No President is above the Law. In fact, every
President has the solemn obligation by oath to “protect and defend the
Constitution of the United States.” In
most circles that would mean obeying the Constitution and protecting it from
denigration, undermining, violation or overthrow. A President who puts his own personal and
political status or success or business above what the Constitution summons him
to do, who calls on foreign nations to interfere in the internal workings of
this government for his own political benefit, would be in violation of that
oath and make him a candidate for impeachment.
Likewise, legislators and officeholders have taken on the
same obligation by their oath to uphold that same Constitution. When legislators attempt to derail a unique
and indispensable obligation endowed to their House by raiding a Committee
charged with taking testimony by deposition -- on the mistaken assumption that they have a
right to defend their President -- they have violated their solemn oath of office
and disobeyed the rules of their House.
The foolish prank visited upon the work of the House
Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, October 23, 2019, by two dozen rogue Republican
congressmen is an affront to all of us who believe in our Constitution, and in
the unique function given to each branch of government to balance the use of
power by other branches. In other words, the disruption of an impeachment inquiry
in order to delay that process is a violation of their oath of office because
it undermines the Constitutional mandate that gives the House of Representatives
the sole power of impeachment.
Like it or not, once accusations and charges have been
brought to the House (as they have been by a Special Counsel report, by career civil
servants, by whistle-blowers and by the actions and words of former employees
of the Executive Office) the obligation to move an impeachment inquiry forward was
clear enough to cause the Speaker to call for that impeachment inquiry. No other action was necessary at that point –
no resolution, no declaration and no vote (today confirmed by a federal court judge).
As to denigrating the process by railing about transparency
and delaying a deposition as a means of defending their president, the rogue congressmen
have undermined the separate but equal status of the Congress granted by the
Constitution, damaged their status as an independent check on the Executive,
and flaunted the rules of their own House that are meant to enable the
constitutional process of impeachment to run an orderly course. They are not just immature frat-type brothers; they
are violators of their sacred oath.
Besides, they are in error as to there being no representation
of their point of view since each Committee involved in the impeachment process
has its full complement of Republican representatives. And, they also missed the boat on transparency
since a closed-door hearing is a usual procedure undertaken when national
security is on-the-line (or crucial evidence is being gathered). In fact, by bringing electronic devices into
a safe room they violated protocol and by recording sounds, opened
the way for outside forces to co-opt vital information. Their actions are much
closer to treason the they are to a mere stunt.
Now let us return to what has become a bête noire in this
whole debacle:
§
Is the President above the Law?
§
Is it remotely
possible that he cannot be held responsible, while in office, for any crime he
may commit?
§
Is it true that he cannot even be investigated
for a possible crime, or stopped from committing a crime?
§
And finally, is it stated anywhere (except in
DOJ policy) that a sitting President cannot be indicted for any crime?
The answers to those questions (most likely by the courts)
will likely determine the future of our form of government. Should any federal court find in favor of the
President on this issue, the Rule of Law will be null and void; the Presidency
will be an imperial one run by a despot, and the Congress will be a creature of
the President having lost its independence and its ability to check what a president
does. We will be the victims of a coup d’état carried out by a rogue president
and his henchmen.
Let me tell you why I say this would be the undoing of our
constitution. In addition to his oath of
office, there are ten words in the Constitution that speak against this
foolishness of a president being above the Law; or being un-indictable and
untouchable while in office. They are
found in Article II, section 3: “he shall take care that the laws be faithfully
executed”. It is impossible for a president to faithfully execute the laws and
himself be a lawbreaker at the same time. Let’s take a deeper look at two of
those words: ‘faithfully’ and ‘execute.’
“Faithfully” = an adverb that describes the manner in which the
execution of the laws is to be done. “Faithfully”
has first to do with thoroughness in the performance of a duty, and second with
the steadfast fidelity (‘devotion’) necessary in that performance and thirdly with
the constancy, dependability and firm reliability that such a duty demands.
“Execute” = an action verb meaning to give force or effect
to a law; to carry out or carry through the intent or essence of the law, and
to enforce its provisions.
There it is in black and white for all to read and
heed. The President has the unique
responsibility and obligation to faithfully execute the laws with steadfast devotion,
constant dependability and reliable thoroughness. Nowhere does the Constitution
say that a president is above the law or exempt from being questioned about the
law or about his solemn duty to “faithfully execute” the laws. In fact, this obligation (implied by the
words “take care”) places him in the role of a faithful defender of the law;
therefore, for him to break any law would be not only an abuse of his office, a
breech of his oath and an impeachable offense, it would be a nullification of his
role as Executor of the laws of the land, and would thus invalidate his
Executive power. In other words, a lawbreaker
(a crook or criminal) in the White House is like a fox allowed into a hen house
– order and safety are abandoned, chaos reigns and lives are threatened.
We are indeed facing a constitutional crisis. If the Supreme
Court (or a federal Appellate Court) does not uphold the true meaning of these
ten words, we shall have witnessed the downfall of our system of checks and
balances that defines the independent and co-equal nature of our three branches
of government. It will mean that the
ability to interpret the intent and the content of laws by the Supreme Court will
have been conceded to the president who will have the power to determine which
laws are valid and which are not, in his opinion. It will mean that the Congress will no longer
have the power to make the laws because any of them will be able to be
overturned by a president who is above the law and can therefore declare what
they mean or don’t mean. The
congressional veto override power will thus be invalidated, and Congress will
have lost its power to legislate any laws other than those the president
approves.
The white supremacists, the neo-Nazis, the KKK, the hate groups
and the Alt Right are doing all they can to restrain their joy over the
possibility that the SCOTUS could actually by ONE VOTE give them the white
nationalist Fuhrer they long to embrace and hail (Heil?) as their North (Norse?)
star. ONE VOTE on the Supreme Court is
all it will take to turn this democracy into a despotic regime. ONE VOTE!
But the ONE VOTE that got away is just as important to
question right now. The one vote that is
now absent from this moment is one we should never forget and that is President
Obama’s nominee to the SCOTUS who was never considered by the Senate for
appointment. His name was Merrick Garland. His nomination was blocked from consideration
by the Republican Majority Leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, who made a
habit of blocking much of President Obama’s agenda. It is incumbent upon all progressives,
liberals, and Democrats to never forget this dastardly act of obstruction by Moscow
Mitch and his minions.
One of the first acts of a democratic majority in the House
and Senate should be an Amendment to the Constitution that forbids any such
non-consideration of judicial appointees in the future. A foundation for it could be started simply by undoing
the Senate rules that allow any senator or leader to block appointments or
legislation by a filibuster, member privilege or super majority. The role of the Majority Leader and his
powers under the Rules should also be examined and deflated where
necessary. We must not allow any
political Party to dictate to the Senate or the House by partisan rules a
direction that limits or blocks either House from acting in the best interests
of the People. Mitch McConnell is a
blight on our democratic values and process.
The voters in Kentucky need finally to call him to account for
mis-representing them by demeaning and undermining the powers and solemn
obligations of an Upper House that was meant to stand as the deeply wise,
deliberative and benevolent chamber that would be a check on any words and
actions that might harm our Republic. Stand
up and contribute a bold legacy to your children and your grandchildren by rejecting
and retiring master manipulator Mitch McConnell.
Finally, let us speak about those future generations. What are we leaving on their plates? Well, it’s not all bad; but, it’s not all
good either. Let me put ten issues in
three categories: the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY.
GOOD BAD UGLY
Progress in Civil Rights/Human
Rights Lost Sec.Voter Rights Act Laws restrict voter rights
More acceptance of diversity/equal
opportunity Laws discriminate
ag. Grps Rogue police shoot kids
Mobilization of all ages to save
planet earth GOP disbelieve climate chg Corps. poison food/environ
Public favors sensible gun
restrictions by a lot Congress fails to act 39,773 gun deaths in 2017
Public schools make up 90+%
of schs. In USA Rural/inner
city less fundg Pub.ed. under DOE attack
Infrastructure widely recog. as
major prob. Congress
refuses to act More lives lost/bad structs.
Technology widens possibilities for good Privacy compromised Growth in Monopoly contrl
Good/Excellent jobs avail. in
certain skill areas Many without proper skills Jobs disappear/wages stag.
Some corporations are good
citizens Some
feed off others Attack
life/liberty/happ
More people run for office/protest/involved Gov’t ineffective/divided Corrupt/abuse/control
No president in this country
is above the law (unless that president becomes a dictator). Creating the possibility or milieu for that
to happen is what unquestioning and unethical sycophants do (and are doing as
we speak). Fortunately, we have career non-partisan civil servants in our
government who speak truth to power, but that will do little good or have
little effect if 40% of voters and a majority of the Senate support and defend
actions and words that can lead to the overturning of our Constitution and our
democratic values and ideals.
Let us not waiver from reality
or truth in this moment of constitutional crisis. Let us support the process of impeachment.
Let us protest the corruption and damage being done to our form of governing and
let us vow to fight to rid ourselves of every sycophant who does not come forth
to defend the Constitution and our rights and freedoms.
After the invasion of the House Intelligence Committee hearing
by rogue Republicans in
a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) that they made unsafe and vulnerable
to foreign adversaries, we are not in the mode of politics-as-usual. Those “suits” (with their invisible Red Caps)
were like the “brown shirts” and the uniformed “storm troopers” of not so long
ago – they ranted; they raved; they shouted, they threatened; they blocked a
legitimate Committee from doing their constitutional duty for more than five hours. This is the initiation of a Right-wing attack
on the legitimate work of impeachment assigned in our Constitution solely to the House of Representatives
to accomplish. No one has the right to intervene in this process, to block it or to undermine its power to check a president who has
been broadly accused of the abuse of his powers.
This is the time for all good
people to come to the aid of their country, not their Party. We must recognize the cancer that is growing
on this presidency, this Trumpian Republican Party, and in this Senate. If we want to preserve our Union and our
Constitution, we must pledge what Patrick Henry called our “sacred honor.” We have no other choice except the kind of
tyrannical dictatorship that our Founding Fathers beckoned us to reject. In the spirit of the late congressman, the Honorable Elijah E. Cummings, we must assert that no matter the cost, we must stand firm in support
of our Constitution and be prepared to address the question that will be asked
by young people in the future: “what did
you do” when our Constitution was threatened? Will we be able to say we stood
against potential destroyers in their attempts to eliminate this democracy;
this Rule of Law; this home of the Free and the Brave. Will we be able to say we helped to secure a
meaningful and enhanced future for our children and grandchildren, and for all
those who will inherit the consequences of this battle?
NOW is
the TIME TO DECIDE and to ACT!
