By Dale Weckbacher:
Proverbs 19:5
A false witness will
not go unpunished,
And he who speaks
lies will not escape.
NKJV
Leaders may believe they can use the power of the state to
cover their lies and deceit but this scripture reminds us that we cannot escape
our lies and we will suffer consequences for them. Jesus put it this way in Mark 4:22, “For
there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept
secret but that it should come to light.”
(NKJV) God knows all and sees all
so anyone believing they can get away with lies and deceit is only fooling
themselves, their sins will become known.
I am no Shakespeare but perhaps that is how he would title
this post. Understanding that there may
come a time in our nation’s history when the people would elect a president who
would not follow the Constitution and lie to the American people, the founders
provided a means of removing a president from office. That means is impeachment. However, many today do not understand why
impeachment is in the constitution and its importance in maintaining checks in
balances in our republic. Impeachment
has also become a political tool instead of a method of preserving the
integrity of the republic.
Impeachment is constitutional and is outlined in article 1
of the Constitution which states,
The House of Representatives shall
choose their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of
Impeachment. (1)
In section four, the Constitution
outlines the grounds of impeachment,
Section 4. The President, Vice President and all civil
Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for,
and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. (1)
In the recent discussions regarding
impeachment, questions have arisen as to what constitutes a high crime or
misdemeanor. In order to do this, we
must look at what the original authors of the Constitution believed constituted
a high crime or misdemeanor, which differs from what we define it as
today. For most of us, we think of a
high crime as something criminal like murder, robbery, assault, etc. However, the founders meant violation of the
constitution and defined high crimes and misdemeanors as an abuse of power or a
serious breach of trust. (2)
Contrary to media hype, the grounds
for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton had little to do with sex and
everything to do with abuse of power.
Members of the media attempted to downplay Clinton’s impeachment
accusing Republicans of broadening the definition of high crimes and
misdemeanors to fit their agenda. (3) However, lying to a grand jury about an
affair he was having with an intern constitutes an abuse of power and thus, is
an impeachable offence when we apply the originalist definition for we see it
as an egregious breach of trust. (4) If a leader can lie about an affair, the
public has reason to believe he or she can lie about anything.
This leads to President Obama and
the question of whether he has committed an impeachable offense. If one applies the popular belief that a high
crime or misdemeanor is a crime such as murder, robbery, or assault, President
Obama has not committed such a crime and thus has done nothing worthy of
impeachment. However, when he took
office he swore to uphold the Constitution, the authors of which held to a
definition of high crimes and misdemeanors as an abuse of power or breach of trust. Based on this definition, President Obama has
committed numerous impeachable offences, such as,
1) Threatening
to act as a legislator instead of the nation’s executive (5) – Article 2 of the Constitution outlines the
duties of the President, the Nation’s chief executive. (1) In no portion of this article does it say
that the President can enact legislation in the event Congress fails to do
so.
2) Changing
legislation already enacted by Congress (6)
(7)
– When Congress enacts legislation and it is signed by the President, it is the
duty of that president and all future presidents to enforce that
legislation. By choosing to change
Obamacare, a piece of legislation passed, and even upheld by the Supreme Court,
President Obama is in essence acting as a judge and not an executive. Interestingly, Obama is changing a piece of
legislation he supported and actually signed.
Apparently, he had to sign the legislation before he could know what was
in it.
3) Using
the IRS to attack political opponents (8)
– Part of the impeachment proceedings that Congress intended to bring against
President Nixon was his intention to use the IRS against political enemies. (9) Nixon only intended to abuse his executive
power by using the IRS, it appears Obama may have actually done it.
4) His
failure to protect our people in Benghazi – As commander and chief, the
president has a duty to protect this country and those who swear to protect our
country through their service. President
Obama’s failure to provide the additional protection requested by embassy
personnel in Benghazi, plus his failure to respond during the attack on the
embassy is a breach of trust.
I am sure there are other instances
of abuses of power and breaches of trust we could bring up, but the four listed
above are ample evidence that Obama has committed impeachable offences. Therefore, Congress would be right in
bringing up articles of impeachment.
However, I believe that right now is not the time to do it.
We currently do not have the
numbers in Congress or control of the Senate in order to bring impeachment, and
conviction of the President. However,
there is an election this November. We
therefore need to focus on gaining a greater conservative majority in the House
and a new conservative speaker. We also
need to win a Republican majority in the Senate and relegate Harry Reid to just
one vote out of 100 in the Senate.
Once accomplishing this, we can
begin the impeachment proceedings and put the Obama Administration on
defense. This will prohibit him from
enacting executive orders out of fear of angering members of the House and
Senate during the impeachment proceedings.
In answer to the question to
impeach or not to impeach, I believe the answer is yes but wait until the
timing is better, after the election.
1. Hillsdale College. The Constitution of the
United States of America. [book auth.] Hillsdale College. The U.S.
Constitution: A Reader. Hillsdale MI : Hillsdale College Press, 2012.
2. Holly on the
Hill. High Crimes and Misdemeanors. hollyonthehill.com. [Online]
[Cited: August 1, 2014.]
http://hollyonthehill.com/high-crimes-and-misdemeanors/.
3. Katyal, Neal K.
Impeachment as Congressional Constitutional Interpretation. scholarship.law.georgetown.edu.
[Online] Georgetown University Law Center, January 2010. [Cited: August 1,
2014.] http://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1121&context=facpub.
4. Nelson, Sara.
Monica Lewinsky: Bill Clinton lied under oath about our relationship. www.dailymail.co.uk.
[Online] Mailonline, December 18, 2009. [Cited: August 1, 2014.] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1236938/Monica-Lewinsky-Bill-Clinton-lied-oath-relationship.html.
5. Logiurato, Brett.
OBAMA ANNOUNCES HE'S BYPASSING CONGRESS ON IMMIGRATION REFORM. ww.businessinsider.com.
[Online] Business Insider, June 30, 2014. [Cited: August 1, 2014.]
http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-statement-immigration-reform-executive-action-2014-6.
6. Adler, Jonathan
H. Another day, another illegal Obamacare delay. www.washingtonpost.com.
[Online] The Washington Post, February 11, 2014. [Cited: August 1, 2014.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/02/11/another-day-another-illegal-obamacare-delay/.
7. Tyler Hartsfield,
Grace-Marie Turner. 42 Changes to Obamacare...So Far. www.galen.org. [Online]
Galen Institute, July 18, 2014. [Cited: August 1, 2014.]
http://www.galen.org/newsletters/changes-to-obamacare-so-far/.
8. (R-KY), Sen.
Mitch McConnell. EXCLUSIVE—MITCH MCCONNELL: OBAMA, IRS FIGHT TO KEEP
CONSERVATIVE NONPROFITS FROM FORMING. www.breitbart.com. [Online]
Breitbart News, January 30, 2014. [Cited: August 1, 2014.]
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/01/30/Exclusive-Mitch-McConnell-Obama-Attempts-to-Prevent-Conservative-Nonprofits-from-Forming.
9. Krauthammer,
Charles. Krauthammer: Second Article of Impeachment Against Nixon Was For
Abusing The IRS. www.realclearpolitics.com. [Online] Real Clear
Politics, June 16, 2014. [Cited: August 1, 2014.]
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/06/16/krauthammer_second_article_of_impeachment_against_nixon_was_for_abusing_the_irs.html.
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