THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XII, Issue # 50, March 20, 2010
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
TALK OF IMPEACHMENT
By Alan Caruba
USE OF THE CONGRESSIONAL IMPEACHMENT & CONVICTION PROCESS TO REMOVE PRESIDENT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
FROM OFFICE: THE POSSIBILITY OF A SUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT IN THE PRESENT CONGRESS, WITH BOTH HOUSES
CONTROLLED BY THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY -- OBSTACLES TO A CASE BEING MADE TO REMOVE OBAMA FROM THE
OFFICE OF PRESIDENT: THE VAST CORRUPTION OF THE AMERICAN POLITICAL PROCESS -- THE MORAL DECAY IN THE
DEMOCRATIC PARTY -- THE RUTHLESSNESS OF THE LIBERAL LEFTIST RULING ELITE -- THE WILLINGNESS OF THE OBAMA
ADMINISTRATION TO DESTROY CIVIL LIBERTIES & THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM IN ORDER TO IMPOSE
OBAMA'S LEFTIST POLICY AGENDA ON THE NATION -- OBAMA AS A RECKLESS IDEOLOGUE WILLING TO SACRIFICE
AMERICA'S FREEDOM & STABILITY IN PURSUIT OF A SOCIALIST UTOPIA
FULL STORY:
A comment on dictatorship run by unbending, know-it-all fanatics adhering to and driven by political ideologies or religious
doctrines:
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the
good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would
be better to live under robber barons than under
omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's
cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may, at some
point, be satiated; but those who torment us for our own
good will torment us without end, for they do so with the
approval of their own conscience.” -- C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)
Jeffrey T. Kuhner, President of the Edmund Burke Institute -- a Washington, D.C., think tank -- and a columnist at the
Washington Times, might as well have rolled a grenade down the main aisle of the House of Representatives
chamber. On March 19, 2010, he wrote a column titled, “Impeach the President?”
It is a bold proposal and would end much of the agony that President Barack Hussein Obama has inflicted on Americans.
In lesser developed nations, a leader as unpopular as Obama would risk being seized by a mob and dragged through the
streets before being hanged.
Of course, we don’t do that kind of thing and, truth be told, impeachment proceedings have been rare in American history
and both have failed.
Only two U.S. Presidents have faced impeachment. One was Andrew Johnson, who became President upon the
assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Taking power in the wake of the Civil War, he was deemed to be too friendly to the
defeated South. His removal from office in 1868 was defeated by a single vote.
The other President to be impeached was Bill Clinton in 1998. The charges brought against him included perjury,
obstruction of justice, and malfeasance in office. He was no doubt guilty of all three, but the proceeding was initiated
primarily as the result of the Monica Lewinsky scandal and a lawsuit brought by Paula Jones.
It was the considered judgment of the U.S. Senate that his failure to keep his penis in his pants did not rise to the
punishment of losing his job. In hindsight, the Senators might have been mindful that they would be installing Al Gore,
the Vice President, if they removed Clinton.
I cite this to demonstrate that impeaching Barack Obama — while probably the right thing to do — would be an
impossibility in a Senate and House controlled by Democrats.
Not to go all legal on you, but Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution says, “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.”
Constitutional lawyers deem “High Crimes and Misdemeanors” as acts of criminality in which a law was broken; abuses of
power; and something called a “violation of public trust” as defined by Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist Papers.
The definition of this is, for all intents and purposes, whatever the House of Representatives say it is. These are, after all,
folks who can’t even kick Charlie Rangel out on his kiester.
The two acts of impeachment issued in the past cited exceeding the constitutional bounds of the powers of the office of
President; behavior that is considered grossly incompatible with the function and purpose of the office; and using the
power of the office for an improper purpose or for personal gain.
Being fellated in the Oval Office by a White House intern did not turn out to be sufficiently grossly incompatible in 1998.
Clinton finished his second term, pardoned a lot of felons, and probably had to be restrained from leaving with the White
House silver and chinaware.
Kuhner, however, made a very strong case for impeaching Obama. He accused the President of “imposing a Leftist
revolution” with the de facto nationalization of “key sectors of American life — the big banks, financial institutions, the
automakers, large tracts of energy-rich land from Montana to New Mexico” were cited as examples.
The ugliness concerning the healthcare “reform” legislation and the proposed Cap-and-Trade legislation was cited as
Obama’s willingness “to devour his Presidency, his party’s congressional majority and — most disturbing — our
constitutional democratic institutional safeguards to enact” both pieces of legislation.
“He is a reckless ideologue who is willing to sacrifice the country’s stability in pursuit of a socialist utopia.”
That is, in fact, what Stalin did in Russia and Mao did in China. Both inflicted death in the millions and economic ruin on
both societies.
The question, however, is whether the process of impeachment can be initiated and, once commenced, whether a case
could be made to depose Obama. That is not likely to happen. It has nothing to do with whether a just case can be made,
but because of the vast corruption of the political process and the moral decay Americans are witnessing in the
Democratic Party.
We are now living in a state of constant crisis in America. That is precisely the way the White House likes it. Such
conditions could lead to a complete seizure of power in the name of protecting the Republic.
It worked in Nazi Germany in the last century. It worked in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. It worked in Cuba. And it is at work
today in Venezuela.
Despotism never sleeps.
© Alan Caruba, 2010
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics, Political Competition, & the Control of
Public Policy: Elections, Political Parties, Political Factions,
Ideologies, & Special Interest Groups
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
Constitution of the United States of America
Preamble: Purposes of the U.S. Constitution
Article I: Legislative Branch of the U.S. National Government
[Commentary & Annotations]
Article II: Executive Branch of the U.S. National Government
[Commentary & Annotations]
Article III: Judicial Branch of the U.S. National Government
[Commentary & Annotations]
Article IV: Interstate Relations
[Commentary & Annotations]
Article V: Constitutional Amending Procedure
[Commentary & Annotations]
Article VI: Supremacy of National Law
[Commentary & Annotations]
Article VII: Constitutional Ratification Procedure
[Commentary & Annotations]
Amendments I-X: Federal Bill of Rights
Amendment XI: Suits Against States
[Commentary & Annotations]
Amendment XII: Election of the U.S. President
[Commentary & Annotations]
Amendment XIII: Prohibition of Slavery
[Commentary & Annotations]
Amendment XIV: U.S. Citizenship, Due Process, & Legal Equality
[Commentary & Annotations]
Amendment XV: Right to Vote: Black Male Suffrage
[Commentary & Annotations]
Amendment XVI: Federal Income Taxes
[Commentary & Annotations]
Amendment XVII: Direct Popular Election of U.S. Senators
[Commentary & Annotations]
Amendment XVIII: Prohibition of Intoxicating Beverages
[Commentary & Annotations]
Amendment XIX: Right to Vote: Women's Suffrage
[Commentary & Annotations]
Amendment XX: Elimination of Lame Duck Sessions of Congress
[Commentary & Annotations]
Amendment XXI: Repeal of Amendment XVIII: Repeal of Prohibition
[Commentary & Annotations]
Amendment XXII: Limit on Number of Presidential Terms
[Commentary & Annotations]
Amendment XXIII: Presidential Electors for the District of Columbia
[Commentary & Annotations]
Amendment XXIV: Right to Vote: No Taxpaying Qualification for the Suffrage
[Commentary & Annotations]
Amendment XXV: Presidential Disability & Vice Presidential Vacancies
[Commentary & Annotations]
Amendment XXVI: Right to Vote: Age Qualification for the Suffrage
[Commentary & Annotations]
Amendment XXVII: Congressional Salary Increases & Decreases
[Commentary & Annotations]
Alan Caruba writes a daily post at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com. An author, commentator and business and science writer,
he is the Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about "scare campaigns" designed to influence
public opinion and policy.
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume XII, 2010
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity