Impeachment: The voters got us into this mess, it’s up to them to get us out of it
The knee-jerk reaction the other day to the news that a majority of House Democrats are now in support of initiating an impeachment inquiry of the president was predictable.
As the talking heads breathlessly rushed in front of the cameras to report the news, the right was fulminating with indignation while the left prematurely cued up the music for its happy dance.
The truth is that although Rep. Salud Carbajal of California became the 118th Democrat in the House to publicly support an impeachment inquiry, the news was barely the noise of one hand clapping.
All it means is that Donald Trump has pissed off yet another member of Congress and the American electorate.
Other than that? Meh.
There are a number of reasons why neither side should engage in any backslapping at this point.
All it does is further anchor the Republicans, who will continue to call any investigation of the president a witch hunt and use the growing numbers against him in Congress as an argument for why the Democrats are nothing more than ignorant obstructionists as they demand four more years of Trumpism. And on the left, all it does is make things more difficult for Democratic leadership, which has a clear grasp of the numbers and realizes that 118 Democrats in Congress are nowhere near enough to impeach the president and move it on to a trial in the Senate, where there are a clear majority of Republicans who are not about to kick him to the curb.
Start picking off Republicans in large numbers — from the House and Senate — and get them to commit to impeachment and we have something to talk about.
Until then, how about going about the business of running this country and preventing any more damage?
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi understands that there is more at stake here than going big with the numbers game of who is for and who is against impeachment proceedings.
She realizes that although there is a brass ring out there, she isn’t going to reach for it until she has all the votes necessary in the House and Senate. Even then, he may balk at the idea of impeachment proceedings because of the impact it would have on the nation and its mental, physical, and economical health.
She realizes that if she comes up short, it gives Republicans not only bragging rights but a raison d’être for another four years of the Trump administration.
Contrary to what most talking heads will tell you, the ice is thinnest at this point for Pelosi and the Democrats, much as it was for the party when it went after Richard Nixon.
Pre-Watergate, there were three resolutions filed to impeach him before the plumbers broke into DNC offices. The House Judiciary Committee rejected all three resolutions.
Now history shows that those initial attempts were not ill-placed flexing of political muscle, because the full force of the House came crashing down on Nixon shortly thereafter.
The storyline was played out in the media, fueled by the reporting of Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, and others who picked up the trail.
But even then, the impact of the word “impeachment” was not given its full weight until Rep. Peter Rodino, a New Jersey Democrat and head of Judiciary Chairman, gave it the proper gravitas.
“Whatever the result, whatever we learn or conclude, let us now proceed with such care and decency and thoroughness and honor that the vast majority of the American people, and their children after them, will say: This was the right course. There was no other way,” he said when the inquiry was launched.
At this important crossroads of American history, we must embrace those words. We must also be pragmatic.
Look, I am not a fan.
I agreed with John Dean when he drew character parallels between Trump and Nixon.
I cringed when the Electoral College and its arcane purpose handed him the White House even though he lost the popular vote.
I am embarrassed by the president’s every official action, whether through his lack of historical perspective or ignorance in the basic mechanics of governance.
I am saddened by his histrionics, his invective, his racist vituperation, his xenophobic faux jingoism, and his misogynistic assaults, whether verbal or physical.
I am dumbstruck by his sidling up to despots and tyrants and his curt dismissal of longtime allies.
In short, I would like nothing better than to be rid of him.
But I’m not quite sure impeachment is the way to go, because let’s face it: There is the Mike Pence factor. Take all of those negatives about Trump and tie them up in a self-righteous bow of evangelical fanaticism and that is what you get if Trump is forced out.
The Nixon impeachment proceedings came at a different time with a different set of circumstances.
While Nixon was certainly guilty of the charges leveled at him, he also bore the collar of blame for more than a decade of immoral war and social upheaval. He didn’t cause it all, but he was at the root of enough of it to go down with that ship.
As righteous as his resignation was on a moral level, it still suspended, even temporarily, our vigor and forever distanced us from those who govern.
That’s why today, even though there is plenty of evidence to put the screws to Trump, it is wiser to let the system employ its own precious checks and balances.
That’s why we need to demand that the House questions every bit of proposed legislation and hold a firm line in the sand that these bullies dare not cross.
That’s why we need to lean heavily on the Senate and appeal to their sense of honor, morality, and patriotism to keep the president and his henchmen in check.
That’s why we need our watchdog press to be evermore vigilant and probing and not be written off as the “enemy of the people.” It takes courage to stand up and say that the emperor has no clothes, even when he is parading around with his bum exposed.
That’s why we need an informed electorate so we can be sure not to make the same mistake twice.
That’s why I don’t really care which party you belong to, because one is just as bad as the other. Instead, heed the words of John Kennedy, who instructed us, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” That means putting aside the asinine labels, dropping the childish name-calling, searching out the truth, and calling out the miscreants who have hijacked our nation.
But as far as impeachment? I caution you to be careful what you wish for. It just might come true.
Think of how much damage it would do to the country to go down that rabbit hole.
The voters got us into this mess. It’s up to them to get us out of it.
Peace.
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
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