Harris, Cheney Make Me Proud To Be An American
By Todd Allbaugh
October 4, 2024 3:33 PM CDT
I was seduced into politics when I was 12 years old. I know. Kinda weird, right? Some kids are into baseball at that age, others obsessed with music, and nowadays, it’s games. As we enter those adolescent years, we’re all looking for belonging, a place we feel comfortable. For me, it was the Republican Party.
I was in fifth grade in 1980, and our teacher, Mr. Scott, assigned us to teams – I chose the GOP side because my grandad was a Republican – to create bulletin boards about the fall elections. An analog project! Right in my wheelhouse. Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan had beaten then-rival George H.W. Bush in the GOP primary and was leading the race for the nomination. I had been a Bush guy – well, as much as a 12-year-old can be anything politically at that age.
Also on the ticket: Bob Kasten for U.S. Senate and Steve Gunderson for U.S. Congress in the 3rd Congressional District of Western Wisconsin. Steve was cool. In his 20, he was the closest person on the ticket relatable to me in terms of age and was constantly positive. He’d end every speech and rally saying, “With your help, we can make a difference in this campaign. With God’s help, I can make a difference in Washington. And together, we can make all the difference in the world.”
I thought: “Wait! I can help make a difference in the world? At 12? In a little town in southwest Wisconsin?”
It was an intoxicating, addictive sense of being a part of something larger than myself.
Reagan, Kasten and Gunderson all won that year, and I thought, “Wow, this is fun and easy.” I had a lot to learn.
Kasten would go on to co-author legislation creating the Central American Scholarship Program, which gave a full two-year ride to academically successful students from Central America to earn a college degree who came from families in poverty who would otherwise most likely never have the opportunity to receive a higher education. The idea was to lift-from-within in terms of supporting democracy in developing countries.
Because of that program coming to the now shuddered University of Wisconsin-Richland in my hometown of Richland Center, I developed lifelong friendships which changed my life, my perspectives and gave me my two godsons.
I was a small part of something that directly resulted in bipartisan legislation, which changed so many lives for the good including my own. That’s the best of what politics can be.
So, last night, long after the majority of the crowd in Ripon had gone home, and as dedicated workers were quickly dismantling the movie-like, picture-perfect set at Ripon College where Vice President Kamala Harris and former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney had just spoken, I found myself feeling something I hadn’t in a long time: A sense of belonging.
In what I feel was the most consequential event thus far in the 2024 campaign, behind only the Democratic National Convention, Harris did something unique in politics and so did Cheney. They truly put their differences aside for the good of our country.
Cheney was introduced by former Iowa County Sheriff Steve Michek, a lifelong Republican who shared he’d voted for former President Donald Trump in 2016, but he also came to regret it. He called what Trump did or didn’t do, on Jan. 6 “disqualifying,” particularly for anyone who works in or supports law enforcement. He said he’s voting for Harris.
I don’t think anyone needs a political primer on Cheney. She’s conservative American political royalty. From a crowd that was overwhelmingly Democrats, Cheney received a long, loud, standing ovation ending in chants of “Thank you, Liz!”
Her speech was gracious, poised and to the point. The danger, that is Trump and Trumpism, must be stopped at the ballot box, and that requires all Americans, all Wisconsinites, to set aside whatever differences we may have in order to preserve our democratic republic. Cheney should know.
She was one of two Republicans, along with former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who sat on the Jan. 6 congressional committee. Cheney has seen all the evidence, heard all the testimony – both classified and unclassified. She, more than anyone else, knows the truth and she brought receipts to Ripon.
In perhaps the most poignant part of her remarks to the crowd in Ripon, Cheney recalled the testimony of a Trump staffer. On Jan. 6, after being told by the staffer that then-Vice President Mike Pence had to be moved from his office, off the floor of the U.S. Senate, to a more secure location in order to protect his life, Trump turned to the staffer and said, “So what?” When Cheney recounted this, you could have heard a pin drop.
The former congresswoman, who as recently as 2021 was the third-ranking Republican in the U.S. House Conference, told those assembled on Thursday of Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, anyone, “who would do these things can never be trusted with power again.”
“Donald Trump was willing to sacrifice our Capitol, to allow law enforcement officers to be beaten and brutalized in his name, and to violate the law and the Constitution in order to seize power for himself,” Cheney said. “I don’t care if you are a Democrat or Republican or an independent, that is depravity and we must never become numb to it.”
Cheney made the point that simply sitting out this election or writing in someone besides Trump isn’t enough.
“I tell you, I have never voted for a Democrat, but this year, I am proudly casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” she said.
With that, Harris took the stage. Maybe it’s the former political flak in me that forever infects my brain, but when Harris met Cheney halfway on the bridge connecting the dias to the entrance from backstage, they seemed to have a moment. The vice president seemed to be asking Cheney to walk back with her to the podium. However it happened, it happened. Cheney stood beside Harris for the entirety, and it was powerful.
Harris was gracious, deferential and seemed immensely grateful. She praised Cheney for her courage in breaking with her lifelong party, for putting her country first. And yes, Harris even thanked Cheney’s father, former Vice President Dick Cheney for his endorsement and “service to this country.”
Relax, my Democratic friends. Harris wasn’t endorsing or condoning the elder Cheney’s record in office, but she did something rarely seen today. Harris thanked a fellow elected official for his public service and showed respect and reverence to the office of which she now holds.
It may seem foreign to folks who didn’t pay attention to politics before 2010, but there was a time in this country and this state when elected officials could fiercely argue over policy but still be cordial colleagues and actual friends. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t think the two vice presidents will be taking family vacations together, but the smallest modicum of decorum is noteworthy in today’s zero-sum political game.
Harris went on to give a speech which could have been given by Ronald Reagan or either Presidents Bush. She spoke eloquently about American exceptionalism, about America’s role in preserving democracy around the world, notably Ukraine, for which she received thunderous applause. And about the need for leaders to be able to look past differences and come together for the greater good of the country.
There were no cheap shots thrown. No pat applause or chant lines. This didn’t feel like a partisan campaign rally to which I’ve been to and a part of so many times in my life. No, this was, in a word, presidential.
Both Harris and Cheney made clear they don’t see eye to eye on everything, and they look forward to getting back to a strong two-party (at least) system whatever those parties may be. But here they were: Two strong, national figures from opposite ends of the traditional political spectrum doing what was best for their country which they both love so much. It wasn’t lost on many that both leaders happen to be women.
Before asking for their vote and leaving the stage, Harris reminded the crowd of what she felt was her constitutional duty: To be a president for all Americans. Cheney gave a broad smile, and along with the crowd, enthusiastic applause.
Harris and Cheney then worked the rope line together taking selfies, signing books, shaking hands and talking. This wasn’t rushed. There was an ease, a comfort in this joint appearance. Maybe it was just me, but Cheney seemed at times a bit taken aback by the warmth from the crowd. She’s still a conservative after all.
But perhaps what Cheney was reminded of, on a perfect autumn day in the birthplace of the Republican Party, was what I was: We’re all just looking for a sense of belonging.
It’s a powerful thing to feel you belong to something larger than yourself; that you’re going to be OK even if you’re not perfect because someone has your back. We’re drawn to the notion that all of us, each with unique and beautiful imperfections, can find commonality around a cause we can believe in.
I left the GOP in 2011 because I could no longer support a party I no longer believed in. Yesterday, for the first time in a long time, I felt I belonged to something again; An American cause.
Harris and Cheney exemplify what former Congressman Gunderson said so many years ago to a 12-year-old kid: “Together, we can make all the difference in the world.”
