Our Founding Fathers Were Not Afraid Of The “I” Word And We Ought Not To Be Either – Bob Barr – Page full

December 19th marked the 15th anniversary of the impeachment of then- President Bill Clinton by the House of Representatives. As the first member of Congress to file an official impeachment document and one of the 13 House members who prosecuted Clinton’s subsequent trial in the Senate, I was intimately involved with — and in — that process. Not only was the 1998 impeachment a powerful and necessary response to the gauntlet throw at the feet of Congress by the Clinton Administration, it was an important exercise employing a mechanism purposefully incorporated in our Constitution by our Founding Fathers.

Contrary to what most Americans remember about the impeachment of President Clinton, the beginnings of the process had nothing to do with Monica Lewinsky or the president’s sexual exploits. On November 5, 1997, I filed House Resolution 304, officially calling for an inquiry as to whether Clinton had engaged in a “systemic effort to obstruct, undermine, and compromise the legitimate and proper functions and processes of the [executive] branch.”

The Resolution was intentionally deliberative in nature. Even with evidence already in hand that the President had engaged in actions warranting impeachment, the Resolution did not call precipitously for impeachment. Rather, it called on the House Judiciary Committee to “investigate and report” whether “grounds exist to impeach” the President; and, upon conclusion of such investigation, to recommend how to proceed with the evidence uncovered.

The reason for the care with which I began this process more than 16 years ago, can be found in the Federalist Papers,penned by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. Hamilton in particular devoted considerable time to explaining the importance of incorporating the impeachment process into the Constitution. To him and his co-authors, this was an essential tool with which to help ensure our system of government would work as intended; a necessary provision to show that the president was subject to the rule of law just as any other citizen.

The rule of law manifest by a written Constitution is the singular aspect of American society that elicits the world’s admiration and has drawn so many of its citizens to our shores over the decades. Virtually everything that makes America a beacon of liberty in the world is based on this foundational principle.

The flagrant disregard for the rule of law knows no partisan lines, and is a danger to the Republic as a whole — regardless of political affiliation. Democrats saw fit to prosecute Nixon for lying to Congress and the American people; Republicans saw fit to do the same with Clinton. In both cases, the cause for impeachment was not only warranted, but methodically proven in the subsequent investigations initiated by Congress.

Such an inquiry is needed today. Republicans should only fear impeachment if they abuse the process by letting politics guide their inquiry, rather than the pursuit of objective truth. And, Democrats should only fear impeachment if they care more for the health of their party than the health of the nation.

As in 1998, the integrity of the office of the presidency hangs in the balance; and our Founding Fathers watch us still.

via Our Founding Fathers Were Not Afraid Of The “I” Word And We Ought Not To Be Either – Bob Barr – Page full.