Let's Do the Right Thing!

I have been listening intently to all the arguments pro and con about whether the Democrats should start impeachment proceedings or whether they should wait for the 2020 election. I have watched as current candidates take a position on what to do.  I have been watching Trump parry every attempt at oversight with further obstruction.  I have listened to the blathering of all the correspondents and pundits as they try to play out the possibilities.

At some point each of us has to take a position.  It is time for me to do that.

I see a man who is currently the President of the United States who treats the Constitution as a convenient toy.  He agrees with it when it suits him and disregards it when it doesn't.  You can’t do that.  Our founding documents were brilliantly conceived and have been remarkably resilient and prophetic for the past 242 years.  There are safeguards in those documents that the prescient founders created to deal with just about any event or condition. 

We have a situation now that there are remedies for, and processes that we can employ to bring us through this current unpleasantness.  The Constitution provides for the Legislative branch, the Congress, to have oversight over the Executive branch.  We have three equal branches of our government.  Equal.  That doesn’t mean that the Executive branch is more powerful than the Congress.  

The Congress has the right to investigate and bring to light any criminal activity it believes may have been or is being pursued by the Executive branch.  That investigative right employs the use of subpoenas and the ability to call witnesses to testify before Congressional investigative committees.  The Executive branch cannot simply say they don’t want to abide by those rules, …..unless we are all just fine with trashing our Constitution!  Assuming we are not, then the President must provide documents that are requested and permit executive branch staff to testify.  If they refuse, then in my opinion, they should be cited with Contempt of Congress citations, arrested and jailed until they submit documents or testify.

By refusing to answer subpoenas and not testifying, the Executive is further obstructing justice, obstructing the rule of law, and the Constitution. 

It seems to me that Trump is purposefully trying to change the nature of the Presidency.  He is trying to make it more powerful than the other two branches of government by refusing to abide by the rules and processes outlined in the US Constitution. He simply believes that those rules do not apply to him.

He therefore should be impeached and removed from office before he can damage our democracy further.

It does not matter that most believe that he would never be convicted in the Senate.  If Senators vote to acquit him, then it is on their heads.   For recorded history they will be known and remembered as opponents of the rule of law and the Constitution.

We are not stupid.  We can all see the corruption at play.  As much as the spin-meisters try to make all the lies seem like truth, they cannot do it.  We are not imbeciles.  It is not ok to say, “Well, I don’t like his style, but he sure is doing such great things, even though he lies to us.”  He is not doing great things for us.  He lies to us on a daily basis!  How can that be anything good?

It is a matter of principle that truth is more important than lies.  It is a matter of principle that we, as patriotic citizens, stand up and declare our allegiance to the founding principles of this democratic republic.

I say cleanse this muck from our national soul using the tools provided by our Constitution…..and thank God we have the tools to use!  We must not be afraid.

And a quick word about Robert Mueller.  Everyone says he is such a straight arrow.  Well, that may be true, but I think he suffers from what I call in my business “producer wimp-out”. 

A TV producer’s prime obligation is to get the goods on the screen when you are out there spending lots of money to shoot something.  If you are too timid to get that perfect shot or ask that incisive question because you don’t want to offend anyone or are too scared to put your balls forward and go for it, then you suffer from ‘producer wimp-out’.  You settled for second-best.

Mueller was too timid to call a criminal obstructor of justice what he actually was.  He didn’t want to go against some arbitrary Justice Department ‘tradition’ not to indict a sitting President.  Why not—I ask!  What would have happened if he grew a set of cojones and indicted the President on corruption charges and obstruction of justice?  He could have been bold, but he wimped out.  So instead, he has left us whining about what we should do next and trying to decide what to do with his ‘breadcrumbs’.

I say, do what is right and true.  Impeach the scum—he’s ‘playing’ us and we are letting him. Let’s get rid of him!