Labels
Posted by

A Profile in Courage – Which Republican Senator Will Be the First?






In any group, there’s always one. One person, who beyond knowing right from wrong, will live right from wrong, and will be the first to step forward, no matter the risk to himself or his career, and declare to his silent members,

“There is a line in the sand. There is a point of no return.
Both have been crossed and met. And I, for one, say no more.”

It happened in 1974 with Nixon and his Senate Impeachment Hearings. At the start of the process, a mere 19% of Americans wanted to see Nixon impeached. By the end of the hearings, 57%, which forced the Republican senators to listen to their constituents and finally vote their conscience.



Such a ground swell can happen again with Trump and his flagrant disregard for the oath he took to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” It’s quite literally in those words which clears the way not only for hearings as per Trump’s abuse of power, obstruction of justice and foreign interference, but for a sound vote of yea to all articles of impeachment laid therein.



I’m rather amazed these days of how many people who were alive back in ‘73/’74 and watched the Senate Watergate Hearings have forgotten the swift and drastic public change in opinion.



At the time, The Washington Post reporters — Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, better known in the trade as “Woodstein,” — fought to get to the truth out about what Nixon’s “Plumbers” had been up to and what crimes his Campaign Manager/Attorney General, Chief of Staff, Domestic Affairs Advisor and Chief Counsel had committed.



In 1972, most Americans had never even heard of the term “Watergate,” and Nixon’s Silent Majority still very much believed in their “Law & Order” Republican president.



The mere word — impeachment — wasn’t even in the country’s lexicon, for it had been 106 years since the last vote on 11 articles — primarily, on the violation of the Tenure of Office Act by removing the Secretary of War — concerning President Andrew Johnson.

Impeachment is not something any country wants to brazenly exercise, for beyond calling into question its leadership, for a time it puts a scar on the electorate with the unspoken question: What views are held by its citizens if such a leader can be elected into the highest office in the land?

But, often as not, the electorate is conned by the conman himself, and the country has to suffer under his serious missteps and carry for a time the burden of a globally tarnished reputation.

Impeachment should be, MUST BE, the last act to defend a country against its own traitor. But once an accumulation of criminal actions are uncovered and/or a blatant disregard for the presidential oath is revealed, the primary tool open to Congress must be used, if only to set a precedent for future leaders that no such behaviour will ever be condoned. The act of Impeachment holds within its power the Big Picture of a nation’s ideals, its national and international reputation and regard. No political tactics nor party risk should ever come into the decision.

Impeachment must be a bipartisan act, if only to demonstrate that all government representatives support, defend, love and are loyal to their country, their countrymen and most assuredly the rule of law.

I, for one, have not abandoned all hope in the Republican held Senate, for each man and woman therein have a soul, a conscience, a moral line and an abiding love for their United States. Every American, Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, wants a better tomorrow. Every American wants a free and safe and prosperous country that shines as a beacon to all other countries, illuminating decency above immorality, highlighting right from wrong.



I post here the 53 Republican faces of the United States Senate. Take a minute and look very carefully at each and every one of them. I believe it’s in putting faces to your fellow countrymen that all Americans can stop looking at this impeachment issue as an Us vs. Them, but rather as a U.S. vs. Trump, where the future health and prosperity of the nation lies.

Each citizen must force their senator to take their oath seriously, too, so that one brave soul above all the rest will break through, chisel a crack in that frightened and silenced dam, surface to reach for the truth, to see the light, and say…

“To you, Mr. President, it is my country over party, and you no longer represent either in my eyes. I say you have crossed our nation’s line and I will no longer ignore your behaviour nor condone your actions nor support you as President of these United States.”

It happened in 1974. It can happen again.

There is no doubt that each one of these senators cherish well their political office. They have acclimated to the pomp and circumstance, the plush amenities, the money and the influence, and not-a-one wants to return to whatever they were doing prior to holding such power. They are determined not to rock any boat, risk any backing they might receive from the RNC to call out any rogue Commander-in-Chief. The way they see things is Trump will be gone in 5 more years even if he gets re-elected, so why risk it all for him? These 53 senators are in it for the long haul until their cushy government pensions kick in or until they run for president themselves. It’s just plain easier to sit back, stay mum, do Mitch McConnell’s bidding… and wait.

But there are times in life when waiting, staying silent, can do serious harm, harm on a national and global scale, where people will be marginalized and wars will be allowed to start and fester and where extremist ideals will be nurtured and formed into rabid policies that can do irreparable damage, and can ultimately kill… all before 2020.

It only starts with one. One of these 53.



Hushed talks in quiet, out-of-the-way D.C. restaurants, passionate diatribes let loose in private homes, small caucuses of the concerned, growing ever larger, ever stronger. Pressure from the media, from their constituents, from their families and friends, and from they themselves when they look in the mirror before they go to sleep at night, but in the end they lie awake, for guilt by association and the sin of omission are eye-opening poisons.

It takes just one. One who has had enough. One who mourns the loss of their Republican party and the classical, time-tested ideals it used to hold before Donald Trump rape and pillaged those ideals and forced the 53 to make pacts with Don as their Devil.

Since the Ukraine scandal broke and a formal announcement from Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, that the Congress will begin official Impeachment hearings, tiny hairline cracks in the Republican dam are beginning to show…

If any one of the above want a run at the presidency, this is the time to voice descent. This is the time to back reason and present a Profile in Courage to the people of this land. Step up, be counted and act presidential; be everything Trump has never been for the United States.

A statistical reality: 30 of the 53 are NOT in an election cycle, so that makes it an even easier go to show with pride the political courage they’ve been so far hiding. Backing by the RNC is not as crucial and they are freer to give voice. It is to those senators the dam must be felled, to allow for a Congressional vote that facilitates hearings to examine all related evidence to impeach Trump. You, dear 30, can take those hairline cracks and chisel through to the rebar and the cement for a brighter tomorrow, for the nation and for the rest of the world who has been holdings its collective breath since November of 2016. A president who sides with dictatorial regimes puts every democratic nation at peril, not just the USA. We all need America to again stand tall and fight for Right over Might to again restore the world’s greatness.

A statistical reality from 3 Senators who ARE up for election: McSally, Gardner and Collins have reasons to stay mum BUT as of October 1, 2019, there is already a slump in Trump’s approval rating with their constituents in Arizona, Colorado and Maine.



1974 is playing out again with All the President’s Men. As with the Nixon Administration, we have mirror likenesses in convicted and alleged criminality — Campaign Manager, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Private Counsel.



And as with the Nixon Administration, the Trump Administration has many criminal players and a large web of deceit and cover-up. History is repeating itself. I guess it only takes around 45 years for people to forget. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, is a West Point and Harvard graduate, and yet I can’t help wonder if General MacArthur and John F. Kennedy aren’t spinning in their graves due to sheer disappointment in the man.

But don’t lose heart. There will be one. After these hearings, a senator will stand up and face the public and declare Trump’s con is over. Barry Goldwater did it in ’74. A Barry Goldwateresque senator will do it before 2020. If a senator does the right thing for the right reason, he or she can never be wrong.

In the meantime, amid the echoes of footsteps long since trod in the White House East Room, tonight, the portrait of a man hangs illuminated by an age-old sconce. The man portrayed therein was not perfect, as no man is, but in his time and at great peril to the country, he kept a cool head and made the right choices when it counted, and for that we around the globe still rejoice. Tonight, that dead man’s soul lies quiet and his aura hovers still, waiting for another who with guilty eyes is removed from that great white house, to restore right, to preserve dignity, to again have the people live in hope.



The clock is ticking and the dam is trickling.
Time and tides, and the will of one senator, will tell all.
Email Post
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment