The necessity of impeachment

The very nature of Mr. Madison’s house is that, no matter which tribe inhabits the seats of power, balance reasserts itself shortly after they leave office. For the most part this pendulum of excesses swings along a relatively narrow arc. But occasionally things get seriously out of whack. Mostly through a combination of circumstances and often because of the cumulative effects of small events, the pendulum will stray from that narrow way and its arc will become erratic – threatening the integrity of the entire structure.

The last time things got this far out of whack was during the Nixon presidency. It is no accident that most of the players in the current administration were present during that failed attempt to establish an imperial presidency. It is also no accident that the current efforts have generated much the same results. The excess of Watergate have returned and multiplied.

An excess of partisanship – and that means on either side of the aisle – is corrosive. After the storm broke during Watergate, partisanship died back a bit. But it became resurgent during the Reagan administration and positively rampant during the Clinton years. Political excesses are somewhat like fevers in that they have to reach some crisis point before they will break. I believe that we are at that point in our history and that it is time for the ‘cold compresses’ of impeachment to be applied to the bow of the ship of state.

Let me be very clear on one point – I am not making a partisan argument here. In fact I am arguing that it is time to flush partisanship out of American politics and establish a new political paradigm.

Redressing the damages to the American national government can only be done within the hot fire that purges and rebalances - and that fire begins with the impeachment of almost the entire senior team of current administration. But I suggest that it needs to go far beyond that. Circumstances require the recall of the leadership of the Democrat party as well. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reed have sold out the intentions of the founding fathers just as effectively and thoroughly as Bush and Chaney. For both sides, the party’s business rather than the peoples business is being done.

Impeachment is a form of revolution in Mr. Madison’s house and I suggest that it is overdue that we have some.