From the blurb:
In the fervor to impeach President Trump, his political enemies have ignored the text of the Constitution. As a civil libertarian who voted against Trump, I remind those who would impeach him not to run roughshod over a document that has protected us all for two and a quarter centuries. In this case against impeachment, I make arguments similar to those I made against the impeachment of President Bill Clinton (and that I would be making had Hillary Clinton been elected and Republicans were seeking to impeach her). Impeachment and removal of a president are not entirely political decisions by Congress. Every member takes an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution sets out specific substantive criteria that MUST be met.
-RW
Meh, pseudo-religious reverence for The Constitution is just as bad. As Spooner waxed eloquently, it’s been a great enabler of state power, and it wouldn’t be worth suffering an awful president just for the sake of deference to a document.
ReplyDeleteHere’s a much better argument against impeaching Trump:
“President Mike Pence”
The impeachment of Trump, which would be on entirely specious grounds would completely deligitimize the federal government in the eyes of 50% of the American public.
ReplyDelete"As a civil libertarian who voted against Trump, I remind those who would impeach him not to run roughshod over a document that has protected us all for two and a quarter centuries."
ReplyDeleteIn what way has it protected "us" for two and a quarter centuries? Ever since at least 1861 the document has been mostly ignored, and each of the four branches of the federal government -- the executive, Congress, the Supreme Court, and the national-security apparatus -- has been running roughshod over the document for years.
It’s funny how the government always happens to ignore the parts that say they’re supposed to leave us alone, but never the parts that say that it’s allowed to steal our money and fight a bunch of wars.
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