Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019 | 2 a.m.
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The impeachment train is on the move. And I, for one, believe it is on the right track.
It is no secret that I have been opposed to impeaching President Donald Trump in the past. I have always been concerned that, in this highly partisan world in which we live — in which two very different realities exist, one real and the other dangerously unreal — the risk of a backlash during the 2020 election could damage the plans of most American citizens who pray, yearn, dream, hope, wish and beg for a change in the presidency.
I have maintained that position, believing that the ballot box is the best place to make amends for an electoral mistake or just a mistake in judgment as the Trump presidency has confirmed beyond any question to the overwhelming majority of voters.
I still believe that.
But I also believe that our Founding Fathers were far brighter, far more insightful and significantly more savvy than the fathers and mothers of 2019 who are doing their best to maintain this brilliant but fragile democracy for which we have been given the current responsibility to preserve for succeeding generations.
And those founders, as we so clearly and cogently learned this past Wednesday from a panel of learned experts, have reached forward through the centuries to demand that a president who has gone to the dark side will be checked and balanced by the legislative branch of government.
The word they used in 1787 and the word we use today for stopping an out-of-control president is impeachment!
And so it begins. When the speaker of the House of Representatives announced Thursday that the House would move to articles of impeachment against the president, she commenced a series of events that have occurred only three other times in our nation’s history.
This is real, this is sad, and this is absolutely necessary if we are to preserve our democratic republic. If we choose as a nation to create some other form of government, say a monarchy or a dictatorship — either of which would suit Trump’s idea of good governance — then we can have that discussion.
But for right now, I don’t see any other way to protect America from what our founders feared most — the intrusion of a foreign power into the domestic affairs of the United States with the willing connivance and coercion of our president.
There will be screaming and screeching and epithets tossed hither and yon from all sides of the existing political aisles — that’s understandable and expected in today’s hyperbolic and fact-free, free-for-all world.
Throughout the smoke screens laid down by those who desire confusion and confuscation, there will be a public left confounded about what the real issues are, who is telling the truth and what that truth actually is.
And that is the hard part in all of this because this is the time when citizens must force themselves to do more than scan a favorite television channel or Facebook post or Twitter feed. The last time impeachment happened — remember, it was about President Bill Clinton lying about sex — the voters made up their minds early on that the punishment sought by the Republicans was far worse than any wrongdoing which Clinton may have committed.
In this case, it appears the public has also formed an opinion that, unlike a lie about sex, aiding and abetting an enemy of the United States (Russia) by trying to blackmail an ally (Ukraine) for personal political gain (reelection in 2020) is way out of bounds for the president of the United States.
We all know or believe that the Republican Senate will ignore the ignoble and illegal acts of the president in favor of a unified chorus singing Trump’s “no quid pro quo” line as if that is the end of the story. But that is just the beginning of this sordid affair.
If ever the people of the United States were to speak out about abusing the power of the presidency for personal gain — the human weakness so much feared by the Founding Fathers — this is that time.
And that means the politics of the moment must be set aside and be determined of no consequence.
I understand that in this hyperpartisan world it is nearly impossible to put down our political armor and pick up the mantle of citizenship. But that is exactly what we all must do.
Defending the Constitution against Trump’s abuse of power in the 21st century is far easier and demands far less from us than fighting and dying in a revolution against King George over 250 years ago in order to create this democracy.
All we have to do is open our minds and close our mouths long enough to hear the truth. After that, I am confident the American citizen in each of us will know the right thing to do.
Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun
