Is loyalty an old fashioned concept to be tossed in the cemetery of outmoded beliefs?  Is it dead?  For some politicians, the answer is a resounding yes!

But, why?

Loyalty is defined as one’s allegiance, commitment and dedication to one’s country, a political party, and/or a consumer brand.  Currently, in the United States, the focus is on one’s loyalty to a political party.  Perhaps, more specifically, the laser beam is focused on those who once held high political office suddenly deserting the political party, to whom they are indebted for years of fame and power, to vote for a candidate from the other side. This desertion feels like the epitome of hypocrisy, betrayal, fraud, and abandonment of one’s core beliefs in exchange for exactly what?

The target of this author’s disgust is the Cheney family, though probably more Republican desertions will be heralded between now and election day. Dick Cheney was Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He served under  President George W. Bush, who thankfully has stated he will not endorse Harris. Prior to serving as Bush’s Vice President, Cheney was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Wyoming, and subsequently served as President Gerald Ford’s Chief of Staff.  All as a Republican.

Cheney has stated his reason for supporting Harris is because Trump is the most dangerous person in the country to be president. What?  Really?  I don’t recall Trump giving plane loads of money to Iran — our sworn enemy.  I don’t remember Trump pulling out of Afghanistan, which resulted in the deaths of 13 Americans — with many more stranded in-country, along with the billions of dollars in materiel that was simply abandoned and is now for sale to America’s enemies. And, at the expense of the American taxpayers.  Both of which occurred under Harris’s tenure as Vice President and who was reportedly — in her own words — “the last person in the room” when these egregious decisions were made.

I don’t remember Trump ever having been made “Border Czar” as Harris has been for the last three years. Under her watch, she has been to the border exactly once and approximately 6–7 million illegals have sashayed across our Southern border. And, unfortunately they are not just from Mexico and Central American countries looking for a job and more pay, as they were in the past.  No!  Now they are from every country in the world — and mostly single males, with motives unknown.

Cheney’s reasoning is extremely suspect. But his disloyalty is worse. Here is a man who the body politic elected to the second  highest office in the United States. And even that was weird:  George W. Bush had asked Cheney to help vet potential vice presidential candidates then boom — Cheney picked himself!

There is also an added boon to being in high political office or a president’s cabinet member — one can sell one’s entire stock portfolio (to prevent a potential conflict of interest) without having to pay taxes on capital gains.

And Dick Cheney is not the only one in his family to have benefited from Republican backing.

His daughter, Liz Cheney was a Republican member in the U.S. House of Representatives from

Wyoming from 2017–2023. Clearly capitalizing on her famous family’s name, Liz’s dislike for Trump is not as surprising, however, as she has always voiced her dislike of Trump.

But loyalty demands, unless your party’s leader is a murderer, rapist, child molester or thief, support of said leader. One can disagree with and not vote for a party’s representative, but loyalty should demand that you keep those thoughts to oneself.

Concern should be directed at a candidate’s policies, not their personalities.

The Cheney family disloyalty to the party that supported and nurtured them could result in a more precarious situation for Israel, higher prices for food gas and essentials in the United States, a ban on fracking — driving up food and gasoline prices once again, as distribution costs rise, and the insanity of a tax on unrealized gains, which are just numbers on paper and purely debatable until the capital gain is realized.

The Cheney family should be ashamed — ashamed for the suffering they ultimately heap on America in their hubris and disloyalty.

Image: DonkeyHotey, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr, unaltered.