Presidential Citizens Medal: Rusty Bowers
Rusty Bowers
Former Arizona Speaker of the House
ANYWHERE ON EARTH, ANYWHERE ELSE, IT'S NOT WE THE PEOPLE. AND AS LONG AS THE PEOPLE WILL TAKE THE TIME TO INFORM THEMSELVES HONESTLY AND WILL REMEMBER WHERE WE CAME FROM AND WHAT WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH, GO HAVE A LEGISLATURE IN MAR OPAL [sic]. SEE HOW THAT GOES. TRY NONET SK [sic]. I DON'T WANT TO BE THERE, SO I HAVE TO BE OPTIMISTIC. AND I AM.
THERE IS SO MUCH GOOD IN AMERICA. WE ARE A STRONG COUNTRY IF WE
CHOOSE TO BE. AND I'M CHOOSING THAT WAY.
Americans outside of his own state may not have heard about Rusty Bowers before now. However, many have come to think highly of his determination to uphold his Constitutional oath. Others appreciate his candid and sagacious words of advice - advice that the Republican Party, his own party, needs to heed.
Bowers lost to a MAGA pawn in last year's primary election. He lost because he stood his ground and didn't compromise his integrity; he remained true to his oath and to core GOP values. These are things the MAGA candidate never embraced, let alone understand. Bowers lost because he refused to overturn election results. And so Trump, in his infinite ignorance, hung a target on Bowers' back. Trump spat on on man that safeguarded the will of American voters in the 2020 Presidential Election. Not all warriors brandish swords.
On 6 January, 2023, President Biden presented our nation’s second-highest civilian award, the Presidential Citizens Medal, to Bowers. The man earned it.
Biden, in his opening address for the award, stated,
"We honor a remarkable group of Americans who embodied the best before,
during and after January 6, 2021. What these people and
the people representing those who couldn’t be here because they gave
their lives for this did is incredibly consequential. That’s not
political, that’s a historical fact.”
In Biden's address concerning Rusty Bowers, he praised the man's actions.
“Rusty put his obligation to the Constitution of this country ahead of everything when he refused intense political pressure to decertify the 2020 election results. His courage is probably the reason why he lost his primary last year. Rusty, you’re an example, a demonstration to every young man and woman thinking of entering politics about what integrity is all about. I’m not exaggerating. Thank you for your integrity and your honor.”
Bowers' statement afterwards showed his humbleness. It also showed his resolve.
"Honoring my oath and the people's choices at the ballot box are not heroic acts ─ they are the least that Arizonians should expect from the people elected to serve them."
Candidates and elected officials ─ on both sides! ─ could and should learn from this man's love for America. They could emulate the patriotism and professionalism that earned him both the the Presidential Citizens Medal and the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his "Courage to protect and defend democracy in the United States and abroad."
Bowers testified to the Jan. 6 committee that he insisted on seeing Trump’s evidence of voter fraud, which he said Trump’s team never produced beyond vague allegations. He recalled Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani telling him, “We’ve got lots of theories, we just don’t have the evidence.” Bowers also said under oath that because of his faith, including a belief the U.S. Constitution is divinely inspired, what the president was asking him to do was “foreign to my very being.” ─ "Former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers receives Presidential honor", The Associated Press and AZFamily Digital News
 |
THE CONSTITUTION IS HANGING BY A THREAD. THE FUNNY THING IS, I ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WOULD BE THE OTHER GUYS. AND IT’S MY SIDE. THAT JUST RIPS AT MY HEART: THAT WE WOULD BE THE PEOPLE WHO WOULD SURRENDER THE CONSTITUTION IN ORDER TO WIN AN ELECTION. THAT JUST BLOWS MY MIND.