The usual knee-jerk calls for impeachment have begun to make the circuit. Let's clear some things up.
Impeachment:
noun
1.the impeaching of a public official before an appropriate tribunal.
2.(in Congress or a state legislature) the presentation of formal charges against a public official by the lower house, trial to be before the upper house.
3.demonstration that a witness is less worthy of belief.
4.the act of impeaching.
5.the state of being impeached.
From: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/impeachment
Fact: Impeachment in congressional terms is simply AND NO MORE THAN Congress standing up and saying "You've been a bad, bad, president and we are investigating you".Clinton taught us that it does NOT in fact mean removal from office. President William Jefferson Clinton underwent the process of impeachment in 1998-1999 and remained in office for 2 full terms (8 years) from 1993 - 2001.
The only way I could possibly support a removal of Trump is if they also managed to find a removal of Pence behind the sofa at the same time. However, that brings up a rather bit of a sticky wicket as far as electoral legal precedent. Do we really want to open that can of worms? I worried that we were opening it during the call to the Electoral College (which needs dissolution ASAP). Do we really want to open up a mechanism by which we remove someone from the office of president before they have taken that office? I didn't think so then - only because of the way that can be used in the futre against me.
That's the thing that has been bothering me about all of these calls for removal:
1) Is this going to be used as a precedent later against the American people (which must be acknowledged as a possibility).
2) Pence? However bad Trump is (and we can in fact see just how bad that is), Pence is worse. Trump is motivated by money. Pence is a true believer. Trump can (in theory) be bought off. Pence - not so much. While I'm all for having a president with integrity, I'm not so into the idea of having a president who believes that having integrity means invalidating my gender, non-christians, and the minorities of this country's humanity.
3)What then? What do we do after we remove the boogey-man-du-jour? Do we hold a new election? Do we "appoint" a president? And what will THAT do to our constitutional legal precedents?
These are worthwhile questions that I need resolved before I can get behind the idea of removing Trump from office. I need most of these answered before I can get behind the idea of removing ANY president from office. Removing the body that sits in the highest office of our nation is something that should ONLY be approached with gravity, solemnity, and reason. It is not a meme that should be bandied about for the purposes of being the recipient of a "like" on social media!
This is a very serious matter, and the future of our constitutional integrity is at stake.Please, calm down, take a breath and THINK for a moment what this could mean in the future? Whatever tools we use in this matter will in fact be used against us later. It is so vital that we do not simply react to the actions of this cohort. Yes, our country is in crisis. I don't argue that point. I simply ask that people take a breath and try to act from a place of reason rather than reaction. Educate yourself about our country's civic processes and what they truly mean and what scope they truly have.
Impeachment:
noun
1.the impeaching of a public official before an appropriate tribunal.
2.(in Congress or a state legislature) the presentation of formal charges against a public official by the lower house, trial to be before the upper house.
3.demonstration that a witness is less worthy of belief.
4.the act of impeaching.
5.the state of being impeached.
From: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/impeachment
Fact: Impeachment in congressional terms is simply AND NO MORE THAN Congress standing up and saying "You've been a bad, bad, president and we are investigating you".Clinton taught us that it does NOT in fact mean removal from office. President William Jefferson Clinton underwent the process of impeachment in 1998-1999 and remained in office for 2 full terms (8 years) from 1993 - 2001.
The only way I could possibly support a removal of Trump is if they also managed to find a removal of Pence behind the sofa at the same time. However, that brings up a rather bit of a sticky wicket as far as electoral legal precedent. Do we really want to open that can of worms? I worried that we were opening it during the call to the Electoral College (which needs dissolution ASAP). Do we really want to open up a mechanism by which we remove someone from the office of president before they have taken that office? I didn't think so then - only because of the way that can be used in the futre against me.
That's the thing that has been bothering me about all of these calls for removal:
1) Is this going to be used as a precedent later against the American people (which must be acknowledged as a possibility).
2) Pence? However bad Trump is (and we can in fact see just how bad that is), Pence is worse. Trump is motivated by money. Pence is a true believer. Trump can (in theory) be bought off. Pence - not so much. While I'm all for having a president with integrity, I'm not so into the idea of having a president who believes that having integrity means invalidating my gender, non-christians, and the minorities of this country's humanity.
3)What then? What do we do after we remove the boogey-man-du-jour? Do we hold a new election? Do we "appoint" a president? And what will THAT do to our constitutional legal precedents?
These are worthwhile questions that I need resolved before I can get behind the idea of removing Trump from office. I need most of these answered before I can get behind the idea of removing ANY president from office. Removing the body that sits in the highest office of our nation is something that should ONLY be approached with gravity, solemnity, and reason. It is not a meme that should be bandied about for the purposes of being the recipient of a "like" on social media!
This is a very serious matter, and the future of our constitutional integrity is at stake.Please, calm down, take a breath and THINK for a moment what this could mean in the future? Whatever tools we use in this matter will in fact be used against us later. It is so vital that we do not simply react to the actions of this cohort. Yes, our country is in crisis. I don't argue that point. I simply ask that people take a breath and try to act from a place of reason rather than reaction. Educate yourself about our country's civic processes and what they truly mean and what scope they truly have.
