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Politics : THE STARR REPORT -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Johnathan C. Doe who wrote (541)	9/13/1998 1:59:00 AM
From: Sword	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1533

CAL THOMAS: No matter what the polls may say Copyright c 1998 Los Angeles Times A somber and, if properly done, cleansing moment is about to occur in America. In taking possession of the Office of the Independent Counsel's findings about alleged lawbreaking by the president of the United States, Congress is embarking on a process which must be performed with careful deliberation and gravity if the principles of our free society are to be upheld. The debate is about the president and the Constitution; it should not deteriorate into a personality clash between Ken Starr and Bill Clinton. The dwindling number of President Clinton's defenders have cited opinion polls as a reason for keeping him in office. Though the public's view of his "job performance" is declining, it remains above 50 percent. This is reason enough, say the defenders, to keep him "doing the job the American people twice elected him to do." Arguing for not undoing the results of the last two elections might have some validity if we lived in a pure democracy. But we live in a constitutional republic. The people decide who they want as their leader, but that leader does not assume the powers, privileges and responsibilities of the office of president of the United States until he takes an oath before the American people. It is then that he is subject to another and higher authority when he swears to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" and to "faithfully execute" the office of president of the United States, which implies upholding the law. When a president is shown to have violated his oath, the Founding Fathers established a process by which he might be removed from office, no matter what the polls may say. The process is rooted in the law, not the feelings of people who may still like an elected leader. Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution grants to the House of Representatives "exclusive authority to bring impeachment charges against any federal judges or officials in the executive branch of government." During the ratification debate in the late 18th century, James Iredell, a member of the North Carolina Supreme Court and a delegate from his state, did not shrink from the power of impeachment. Iredell said that vesting this power in the House "is one of the greatest securities for a due execution of all public officers .... Every man ought to be amenable for his own conduct .... It will be not only the means of punishing misconduct, but it will prevent misconduct. A man in public office who knows that there is no tribunal to punish him may be ready to deviate from his duty; but if he knows there is a tribunal for that purpose, although he may be a man of no principle, the very terror of punishment will perhaps deter him." The Founding Fathers deliberately left broad the offenses for which government officials can be impeached so that they could embrace virtually any serious misbehavior while in office. As to the impeachment of a president, Iredell noted: "Under our Constitution ... no man is better than his fellow-citizens, nor can pretend to any superiority over the meanest man in the country. If the president does a single act by which the people are prejudiced, he is punishable himself .... If he commits any misdemeanor in office, he is impeachable, removable from office and incapacitated to hold any office of honor, trust or profit. If he commits any crime, he is punishable by the laws of his country and in capital cases may be deprived of his life." So much for the voters (and the polls) having the final say on a president's tenure in office.