We Couldn’t Keep It
Today I hang my head. I hang my head knowing that the founding fathers would be disappointed in us, that Benjamin Franklin would be staring at us with ‘Side Eye’. . .
…upon exiting the Constitutional Convention Benjamin Franklin was approached by a group of citizens asking what sort of government the delegates had created. His answer was: “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Today begins the second impeachment trial of Former president Donald Trump. Why should I hang my head? Because our commander in chief has been impeached? Again? Because I’m a supporter of his and believe that this is retribution from leftist democrats? (I’m not, and I don’t.) Because I think that the process of impeaching a former president or any formal official subject to Impeachment is unconstitutional? (Nope.)
The reason is, the outcome of the impeachment trial is already set. I know it, you know it, former President Trump knows it, we all know it. We are hesitant to admit it out loud, not because of what it implicates for our nation, but the idea of democracy.
Our system of Impeachment laid out in the constitution is flawed, not by the founders, but by the implication of who the jurors are; the duly elected Senators of the United States.
The framers of our constitution gave great thought to writing Article I Section I, Article I Section II, Article II Section IV, the articles covering Impeachment. However, the one flaw they could not see is glaringly apparent today. As we all do or did at some point in our lives, they believed that elected officials were and always would be — fair, honest, moral people.
They believed that any person who would run for public office would be held to a higher ethical standard than the ordinary citizen. The founders were not naive; they knew that some would try and take advantage of the government system they were inventing and use it for personal gain. They implemented as best they could protections against officials that would look to hold on to power. The framers of the constitution carefully considered every word that they wrote. The document created at the end was a fantastic feat of thought, scholarship, and wordcraft. However, it was all predicated on the idea that — we were better, that we were moral, that we were honest. The idea that when someone tried to abuse the power of their office, the majority of elected officials would defend the democracy, defend the republic, defend their constitution. The founders could have never imagined that the moral, the ethical, the honest officials would be in the minority.
It is now a Child of fortune, to be fostered by some and buffited by others…
-George Washington To Marquis de Lafayette Sept 18th 1787
Of course, there are still ethical people in the Senate. In all of congress, some are superheroes, those who fight for their constituents’ rights, those that will argue for democracy, those superheroes will keep our constitution. They are the ones that had an altruistic idea, fought for it, and didn’t let it go, no matter how inconvenient. No matter how much the parties or Caucasus told them that it would be a barrier to their reelection, committee assignments, or fundraising. The ones who will not be beholden to one person or one party, but the ones who are beholden to their constituency, to the American people, to democracy. They feel the burning gaze of the country’s founding fathers bunning holes in the backs of their heads as they turn from what is right.
They are also the ones that will hang their heads with me today and weep for Themis and Lady Liberty. We couldn’t keep it.
