Text of the letter sent to my congressman by me:
Dear Congressman,
Soon you will be voting on whether to impeach President Clinton. I am writing, as a constituent, to let you know where I stand on this issue. Because the Constitution is very dear to me I will be watching very closely how you vote.
I cherish the freedom this country and its system of government guarantee. I know that the Constitution has vested power in me and my neighbors, and has limited government to certain enumerated powers.
Among them are the enforcement of the laws you and your predecessors have crafted. These laws try to protect us from the evil that men do - not just individual evil, but also the evil of an inflamed majority.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was one such law. It declared that the prejudices of the majority against minorities were wrong. Just because more than 50% of the people believe something, that doesn't make it right.
These laws also protect us from the evil that rulers can do. The government cannot take my property without giving me due compensation. And our constitutional form of government has meant that I need not fear midnight raids from agents of a king or tyrant.
How do they offer these protections? Because they are like our nation, as Abraham Lincoln put it at Gettysburg, “ dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” And as such these laws apply to all - from the humblest house servant such as Rosa Parks to the richest executive such as Charles Keating to the highest officials such as Richard Nixon.
To enforce these laws, our Founding Fathers set up a third branch of government along with the executive and the legislative - the judiciary. Each of these branches of government have equal power over each other and serve to check the possible excesses of the other two.
In particular, the judicial branch tries to resolve disputes between individuals, between the government and individuals and to enforce the Constitution.
For the judicial branch to do its job, it requires the truth. For without truth, there can be no justice. That's why your predecessors, all the way back to the founding , passed laws to punish and deter liars. They were based on English common law, which recognized that justice was ill-served if anyone could lie in court and get away with it.
Mr. Clinton and his supporters seem to have forgotten this basic premise of our society.
No one I know thinks he didn't lie in court and before the grand jury. But I know a lot of people who don't care.
That's their right as citizens to deny their responsibilities. But it cannot be your right. As a member of a co-equal branch of government, you have the responsibility to check the excesses of the other - in this case, the executive. And if you vote to excuse this abuse of the judicial system, his lying, then you don't understand and appreciate your duty to uphold the Constitution.
And make no mistake, a vote to censure the president, is not upholding the Constitution. It's just a way to let lawmakers avoid being held accountable.
Indeed, it's no vote at all. Censure, as it's being discussed, is not just a slap on the wrist. It's a slap in the face of all Americans who believe in the Constitution.
A primary concern of the Founding Fathers was to avoid establishing a monarchy that could trample the rights of individuals. If Mr. Clinton is allowed to flout the law, then he takes on the trappings of a king, unanswerable to what is right.
If you don't vote to impeach him, then you will be saying to me that you don't believe in our system of government.
And with that statement, I will have to vote in the next election to elect someone who does. As much as Mr. Clinton's actions might indicate otherwise, I have the power under the Constitution, and intend to exercise it. |
