Just Say No to the Urge to Impeach
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President Ford is right: Impeachment is whatever Congress says it is!
Our founding fathers were uncommonly wise. They knew it would be folly to be too specific when outlining in Article II, Section 4, of the Constitution the grounds for impeachment of the president and others. They cited only "treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors."
These grounds were intentionally vague, signifying that removal would be considered only under the gravest of circumstances. They looked into their crystal ball and were confident that succeeding generations could determine "high crimes" for themselves.
Even if impeachment were to be brought against a president for something as absurd as failure to pay a traffic ticket, for example, impeachment would be successful if the House simply voted for it. And the president would be removed if the Senate were to vote for conviction. That's the way it works!
The founders surmised that frivolous charges would create a powerful backlash, as it has done in President Clinton's case.
While Article II, Section I, limits the presidency to natural born citizens 35 or older and requires U.S. residency for 14 years, there's only one practical prerequisite for becoming president: You have to muster enough (electoral) votes.
As President Ford notes, if the House votes for impeachment -- whatever the grounds -- the president is impeached; it would work in a similar way if you wanted to become governor of a state, say Minnesota. If the people vote you in, you are the governor!
Even after the GOP election disaster and Newt Gingrich's withdrawal from the scene some diehards continue to say the impeachment "process" must be carried to its conclusion. Nonsense! There is no such requirement.
Neither the Constitution nor common sense dictate that a frivolous attempt to bring impeachment charges against a president must be continued once started. The wiser move would be to vote it down in the House Judiciary Committee.
It wouldn't be easy, I imagine, for Republicans to concede that the charges against Clinton are frivolous and come nowhere near the standard of "high crimes and misdemeanors."
Conservatives are just looking for a way out -- to save their own skins and the election of 2000.
Rather than admit their mistakes and drop the matter, some will press for censure or some other inappropriate way to signal to the electorate that they were right all along.
Censure would only be appropriate if a president were derelict in his duties, not in his personal behavior.
Some will maintain the anti-Clinton enthusiasts simply overextended themselves, or, worse, that they were right all along, but just couldn't come up with the evidence because of Clinton's evasive action.
For these conservatives, I offer this advice: Drop the impeachment effort now! And to the Judiciary Committee: Vote against any further proceedings and get on with the country's business.
I wrote this column as a "My View" for The Hour newspaper of Norwalk, Conn., on Nov. 21, 1998. I now write my views on a wide variety of topics on HubPages. You can, too. It's easy, and free! Get paid for writing about what you love, or whatever interests you!. HubPages makes the technical part easy. Make friends and get help on its active forum. Take a quick tour to see how easy it is to get started today Click Here -- To view my HubPages Profile Click Here
Impeachment
- Bagong impeachment case vs Arroyo malabo na -- NogralesGMA News24 hours ago
MANILA – Inilarawan ni Speaker Prospero Nograles na “slim to none" ang tiyansang may maghain ng panibagong impeachment complaint laban kay Pangulong Gloria Arroyo kaugnay sa naging rekomendasyon ng Senado tungkol sa kontrobersiyal na ZTE-NBN deal.
- Nograles: Chances of impeachment, slim to noneThe Daily Tribune23 hours ago
Chances of another impeachment complaint against President Arroyo as a result of the Senate blue ribbon committee’s report on the $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) scam would be from slim to none, according to Speaker Prospero Nograles.
- Bulgaria PM: Impeachment of President Would Be Bad for BulgariaNovinite.com27 hours ago
Bulgaria PM Boyko Borisov has stated that the impeachment of President Georgi Parvanov would not be good for the country at the current time. Borisov added that he was ready to convene consultations to solve the conflict between several rightist political parties and Parvanov.
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Comments
Thanks for commenting, Curdman. There wasn't a lot of sanity around Washington back in the '90s, and there's not a lot today, either. I hope sanity prevails in November!
William F. Torpey,
If you have to argue over what is an impeachable offence, then that offence probably doesn't pass the litmus test.
I don't think too many people will try it again, you burn to much political capital when you do.
Thanks for the retro hub on Clinton. I enjoyed it.
sschilke
I appreciate your comment, sschilke, and I'm glad you enjoyed the column. Clinton's impeachment was 100 percent political, but I've since learned that sometimes impeachment isn't such a bad thing (when you look at the way George W. Bush has trashed our Constitution.) Thanks.











Curdman says:
16 months ago
hey look, a sane mind from the actual time of the events!
I was living overseas when this was going down, and I was not particularly old, but even I know what a zoo looks like, especially with animals running around nipping at each other!