Well, it is now reality.
For the third time in our history we are one vote away from impeaching a President. It is a somber, serious moment that should
make all of us stop and think realistically about what happens next.
Whether you are Democrat or Republican, we are all Americans
and we all presumably revere our country, honor our Constitution and at some
level believe that lying is wrong, that cheating is wrong, that ignoring facts
is antithetical to the pursuit of truth.
We have reached an inflection point in our history as a nation. Our values, the things we stand for as
members of a democratic republic, are common to us all. We are approaching a moment when those
values, specifically the notion that a democracy is characterized by free and
fair elections, adherence to the rule of law, and living our lives in honesty
and integrity are about to be tested.
I watched much of the House hearings over the past weeks and
it is distressing to witness the Republican response to the impeachment process. As a group, there is denial of fact. The defense of the President by these people
is restricted to yelling, to demeaning the constitutionally mandated process,
mirroring the character assassination of the President and to delay and
obstruct the process as much as possible.
There has been ample opportunity for them to present whatever fact-based
evidence they had to rebut the allegations made against President Trump, but
they have failed in all cases to present either facts or any witnesses of
fact.
And now, we are about to witness a trial of the President in
the Senate….a place where the end result has already been determined apparently---even
before the trial begins! In fact, we are
now hearing news reports that the Republican controlled Senate is going to make
rules for this process that will truncate the process in order to dismiss the
articles of impeachment and acquit the President without the defense calling
any witnesses. The objective is to make
the trial as short as possible and simply make the vote happen as quickly as
possible. What is wrong with this
picture? I submit that it is the
obligation of all members of the Senate to have open minds and consider the
evidence. It is the obligation and right
of the defense to present evidence that disproves the allegations. The Republican allies of the President won’t
do that because there is no evidence to disprove the allegations, and the fact
witnesses the Democrats might call have been muzzled by the Executive branch in naked
obstruction of the oversight rights of the Congress.
Add to that the inherent dishonesty of Mitch McConnell and
it is easy to see why this trial is already a foregone conclusion.
However, this is a bigger moment than that.
I believe that the members of the Senate, and all of us need
to use this moment to consider what kind of country we are. If Trump is acquitted, then we have
essentially approved of his lying; his invitation to foreign parties to affect
our elections. Our country will not be a
democracy any more. It will be an
autocracy or dictatorship. The
separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution will be decimated. The sacredness of free and fair elections will
be sullied and rejected. What kind of a
country do we want to live in? We will
have a chief executive and commander in chief who does not believe in the rule
of law. In fact, there are some who warn
that if Trump is acquitted, he will be completely unhinged going forward….as if
he isn’t already! Future presidents will
have an unfettered path to break the law since nothing will be impeachable.
We must all think about what that means. What can we all do at this moment? I submit that each of us has a responsibility
to take action in defense of our country.
We all should be calling our Senators and asking them to disregard party
and honor our Constitution. They need to
understand that all of us are watching them and history is recording their
actions.
A very somber momentous moment for ALL of us is at hand.
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