My take on (a possible) impeachment of President Obama (I have a question & my answer at the end of this diatribe): There are already serious and sober people calling for Obamas impeachment if he follows through with his executive amnesty for illegal aliens, but I dont believe Obama will ever be impeached for any reason. Not that I think he shouldnt be, but I dont believe the GOP has the guts for it. Conventional political wisdom says the GOP lost favor with voters after the Clinton impeachment in 1998 but I dont believe that for a minute because the electoral evidence doesnt support such a conclusion. Impeachment was intended to be an important and ultimate check and balance against rogue presidents, judges, justices and other public officials. But as other writers have opined, it isnt a check and balance at all if never or rarely used, and it is very rarely used. Since our Constitution was ratified and implemented, only two presidents have been impeached (both Democrats) and neither removed from office. There is conflicting information on the numbers of public officials impeached over the past 200+ years, but here is some context: According to answers dot com, There have been at least 65 federal judges who have been impeached as of 2014. The process of impeachment results in a trial but does not always end up with the judge being removed. According to Wikipedia, Actual impeachments of 19 federal officers have taken place. Of these, 15 were federal judges: thirteen district court judges, one court of appeals judge (who also sat on the Commerce Court), and one Supreme Court Associate Justice. Of the other four, two were Presidents, one was a Cabinet secretary, and one was a U.S. Senator. Of the 19 impeached officials, eight were convicted. One, former judge Alcee Hastings, was elected as a member of the United States House of Representatives after being removed from office. So my question is this; should the pace of impeachments accelerate in our modern times? My answer to that is yes. Not even liberals and progressives themselves can deny they are moving increasingly further from our Constitution - our Supreme Law of the Land - and that they are becoming increasingly radical. So, the important check and balance of impeachment becomes even more vital as they stray further and further from the rule of law and use methods such as the ends justify the means to press their radicalism. If the GOP unilaterally disarms by taking impeachment off the table in these dangerously radical times then America is done...over.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 14:36:57 +0000