<<Those who've doggedly pursued him these past few years have completely erased the traditional sentiment that awarded the position itself(no matter who the occupant might be) a degree of respect>>
I want to jump in here before the angry mob. Some people will say that Clinton did this, not his detractors. I want to point out to those people that people have always bent over backwards to ignore scandals related to the President in order to preserve the dignity of the office. I'm not saying that scandals were not talked about, but they were generally not pursued unless they were political in nature. In other words, if the scandal was related to appointing incompetent people to various positions, it would be discussed, but if it related to the marital problems, it was generally not pursued. One exception I can think of was the one related to the unmarried President that acknowledged a bastard son. Even then, other than using jingles making fun of the issue, it wasn't pursued as a reason for impeachment or other serious censure.
I don't blame Starr or the other people that have chased Clinton down either. I blame the American people. As the Clinton supporters are so fond of saying, they knew what he was when they voted for him. We need to look at the character of the people we put in office, and insist on the best. People make mistakes, but good people are less likely to make those embarrassing mistakes than are corrupt or dishonest people.
<<They ignored the fact that elections are the method by which the American people change leaders -- not thru a partisan witch-hunt.>>
In this case, it's not the American people that are called on to make a decision, but the Congress and the Senate. Just as the Constitution makes arrangements for the Electoral College to select a President, it allows for the Congress and Senate to remove one if they feel a mistake was made. The idea apparently was that those representatives were in a better position to make a reasoned judgement, and would be less prone to emotional decisions. Please note that the founding fathers never put a system in place that allows the people to select their President or Senators. We do not live in a Democracy, but in a Republic. The will of the people is not what determines laws or policies - it is the will of the politicians, our representatives. |
