Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Cardboard cutout people

Author:Chuck Shotton
Posted:12/19/1998; 8:57:12 PM
Topic:Cardboard Cutout People
Msg #:1475 (In response to 1467)
Prev/Next:1474 / 1476

"Anyone talking about what the American people want now is full of it."

Hmmmmmm......

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Jason, I think the point is that any *politician* talking about what the American people want *is* full of it at this point. Somewhere along the way, a whole bunch of petty little men trying to keep jobs as professional politicians forgot that this isn't a popular referendum. Instead, it is a constitutional exercise that is outside of the bounds of the general populace.

Recall that the U.S. is actually a republic, not a democracy in the purest sense. And the founding fathers imbued the House of Representatives with the power to impeach a president if they felt he had overstepped the bounds of power, abused his position, or violated the laws of the land. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say it should be put to a popular vote. In fact, the Constitution defines a form of government where the will of the people is expressed in their election of members of the House, Senate, and Executive branch. And that's where "what the American people want" comes to an end as far as impeachment is concerned.

The argument that the House is somehow overturning the results of the past two elections is a specious one at best. Just because 2 elections voted Clinton into office doesn't give him blanket immunity to commit criminal acts while in office. Nor does it provide any sort of valid argument against proceeding from impeachment to a trial in the Senate.

So the fact remains that any politician that says he's doing the will of the people at this point *is* full of it. Or worse, he is totally ignorant of what his job according to the Constitution should be.

As an aside, it was interesting to note the trailer commentary at the end of ABC's "This Week" show several Sundays ago. They had sound bites and a running total of the number of times the phrase "will of the American People" had been used in the preceeding week on national television by members of Congress. The number was something absurd, like 400 times. It seems clear that politicians find it convenient to blame their partisan behavior on the general population, which clearly has no role in this process.

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