Rep. Liz Cheney, R-W.Y., took the stage at Conservative Political Action Conference 2020 (CPAC) on Thursday with a simple message for the conservative activists in the crowd.
By electing socialists, Cheney said America would be inviting attacks on America.
“We all know that America is free today because of the brave men and women in uniform who are standing watch, right now, defending that freedom,” Cheney told the packed house at the Gaylord Hotel in Washington, D.C.
“We know that every single blessing we have, we have because of them,” she said. “We also know we’re free today because our military is second-to-none; it’s the best the world has ever known”
And the U.S. military is the best in the history of mankind because of the innovation and creation that free-market capitalism encourages — and socialism destroys, Cheney said.
“Man first flew in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903; a little over 65 years later, America had put a man on the moon. That’s the kind of innovation that free societies create,” she said.
Free-market innovation in the best defense America has against the tyrants that run North Korea, Iran, and Russia, she said.
“Our enemies have one thing in common: They want to extinguish freedom,” Cheney said. “They’re all listening to us here today. Let us send them a loud, clear message: America will never be defeated by their totalitarian hatred.”
“We know that socialism extinguishes freedom because it steals power from the people and it creates authoritarianism,” she continued.
Cheney quoted the former United Kingdom Prime Minister Margret Thatcher’s warning: “Socialists cannot let people choose. Because if socialism lets people choose, people won’t choose socialism.”
“We must remain vigilant,” Cheney continued, saying that America was under threat from socialism that has taken over the far-left.
“Imagine if the leading Democratic candidate spouts communist propaganda and says, ‘truth is truth.’”
Cheney then shared the story of a young Cuban immigrant that escaped the horrors of socialism to come to America, a guest of hers that stood to cheers from the ballroom filled with conservative activists.
Cheney said he knew to escape to America thanks to the speeches of former President Ronald Reagan — and invoked Reagan as a lesson for American voters heading towards the 2020 general election.
“That is our charge as Americans today,” Cheney said. We are the inheritors of that legacy. It is up to us to defend the blessings of freedom.”
“We will stand up. We will defeat socialism,” she said. “We will defend our freedoms for our children and grandchildren. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.”
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The Horn editorial team