"Many constituents want to impeach the President, but we want to do what is right and what gets results." - Nancy Pelosi, May 29th, 2019
Nancy, I am sorry to say, that is frequently not how the world works. There are a great number of actions which get results but which are not right... and sometimes doing what is right might not get results - at least not right away. For my part, doing what is right has always been the better course in the long run; expecting "results" in some value exchange for "doing what is right" is really just bargaining one's principles with the expectation of a favorable outcome. Such an outcome may or may not arise, but we can still choose to do what is right because doing what is right is an intrinsic good.
It is entirely possible that a televised impeachment process would deeply damage Donald Trump and negatively affect his 2020 re-election prospects. It is also possible, though perhaps less so, that Democrats launching a formal impeachment inquiry would benefit Trump electorally. I don't agree with the latter assessment, but I'm willing to entertain it.
But regardless of whether impeachment "gets results" in the Pelosian calculation, it is almost certainly the legally-founded and Congressionally-mandated course of action... if indeed the Constitutional mechanism of impeachment has any place in the American political process whatsoever.
Nancy, if not a formal impeachment inquiry into the high crimes and misdemeanors of Donald Trump, than who? If not after the damning revelations of the Mueller Report, then when? And if not to hold the office of the president to the rule of law as any other citizen, than why?
No comments:
Post a Comment