I thought Clinton should have been removed from office.
I've never voted Republican, but I believe in the rule of law. I believe the single most valuable innovation made by the Founding Fathers, was the principle that no one is above the law. We have no kings, we have nobody who is untouchable, the same crime gets the same punishment no matter who you are. That's the theory. We are a great nation, to the extent we follow our principles. If we don't act on that principle, then the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is just a worthless piece of paper, just like all the freedoms guaranteed under Soviet law.
Clinton got caught lying to a Grand Jury. He said, under oath, something that was later proven to be false. That's a felony. If the crime had been exactly the same, but Clinton had been the manager of a McDonalds, screwing a burger-flipper, he would have lost his job and gone to jail. He was treated differently, he got away with it, because he was the President.
But his crime was worse than that. The law says, that in situations where there is a huge disparity in power between them, that if sex is proven, then it meets the definition of rape. And it's still rape, even if the woman says it was consensual. For instance, in the following relationships, it is assumed that any sex = rape:
doctor and patient
priest and parishioner
military officer and subordinate
corporate executive and subordinate
mature man and much younger girl
many other similar relationships
Many, many men are serving time, convicted of rape, when the woman said it was consensual. Clearly, the relationship of President, and White House clerk, falls into this category, of sex between people of vastly different power. So, not only should Clinton have lost his job, but he should now be serving a long jail term for rape.
Let's compare what Clinton and JW Bush did. Both lied. Both lies, if they are unpunished, seriously damage the principle of the rule of law, and equality before the law. Clinton's lie was a crime, because he said it under oath, to a grand jury. Bush's lie was not a crime, because he didn't say it under oath. He just said it to the American people, and to the UN. He said it over and over, and so did every major person in his Administration.
Remember that, in the run-up to the war, according to many polls, there was majority support for the war, only if we had UN approval, which never happened. The 70-80% approval only happened after the fact. Before, support was very tenuous, a conditional, soft support, by (at most) a small majority. American's fear of WMD in enemy hands was what Bush played on, to create majority support for the war. Bush's lie was used as the main justification for a war in which thousands of people have died. So, the immediate tangible damage done by Bush's lie, was far greater than Clinton's lie.
I was appalled, that Clinton got away with rape. And I am equally appalled, that I am not hearing calls for Bush's removal from office. This should not depend on politics. Anyone who truly believes in the rule of law, and the Constitution, all the politicians who voted for Clinton's impeachment, ought to be calling for Bush's political head on a platter.
"I did not have sex with that woman" = "Iraq has weapons of mass destruction".
Clinton followed the above lie, with his absurd re-definitions, excuses, rationalizations: "What is the definition of 'is'".
Today, we are hearing the same absurdities from the Bush apologists:
They snuck them all into Syria at the last minute.
They destroyed them all, as our tanks were overrunning them.
We never said they had weapons of mass destruction.
The jury is still out. We'll find them, eventually. Give us a few more years to look for them.
Mostly, the Bush Administration is just ignoring the issue, counting on the next crisis (Syria, N. Korea, terrorist attacks, anything will work) to keep the nation's attention. And it seems to be working. Americans have such low standards for their leaders, we don't expect honesty. When our Presidents get caught in a lie, we just shrug it off. We complain constantly about the quality of our leaders, we have little real trust in them, yet we don't punish their lies.
To reestablish the rule of law, to make it a bit less likely that future Presidents don't lie to us, it isn't good enough to defeat Bush at the polls in 2004. He must be brought to trial in the Senate, convicted, and removed from office. |
