Submitted by Jerry Scribner, October, 2019
I am opposed to trying to impeach Donald Trump for the same reason as I would have opposed trying to impeach King George of England in 1776. It won’t work.
Our Constitution is just a piece of paper. Its powers ultimately rest only on the power of the people to vote for leaders who will enforce it. If the President chooses to ignore it, he can, especially if members of his party are more loyal to him than to the Constitution they swore to defend.
That is what is happening. The Republicans in the Senate refuse to allow bills passed by the House to come up for a vote. The President refuses to allow people to testify with respect to the executive branch’s administration of laws passed by Congress. The Supreme Court, voting on party lines, refuses to interfere with a president who claims new powers to act unilaterally.
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” That is what we are seeing happen to the system of checks and balances our founding fathers set up. It has stopped working. If the Supreme Court says, the president’s executive privileges are similar to those of King George, then they are. If seats on the Supreme Court can be withheld from one president and given to the next, if the president can get the fewest votes and still rule with absolute power, then he cannot be impeached. If the Senate refuses to act, then Trump can rule like a king, all of us subject to his every whim.
When Americans declared their independence, King George III said, “You can’t do that. Only I am in charge.” His word was law. So it is now with Donald Trump’s word. What the Constitution says doesn’t matter anymore because Trump has a majority on the Supreme Court which so far has ruled or not ruled in ways that allow him to flaunt any effort to prevent him from bypassing Congress’ power to rein him in.
We had to go to war in 1776 to regain our freedom. All we have to do in 2020 is vote. Let’s demand a return to honest workable government starting with a new President who respects the Constitution and truth.