This is the letter of the law as copied and pasted from Article II from the
Constitution of the United States. This clause, as you will notice, applies to members of
Congress as well as the president of this country.
Now let us consider each offense that is grounds for impeachment. Normally, we think of treason as those acts of aiding another country while doing harm or potential harm to our nation. But, here are its meanings: treachery, disloyalty,
perfidy, sedition, and disaffection. Perfidy means dishonesty, infidelity, deceit, faithlessness, and falseness.
How about bribery? What is bribery and how might it be applied to our elite members of Congress? Do they indeed engage in acts of bribery?
According to my thesaurus, which I presume is correct, bribery is: dishonesty,
corruption, venality, extortion, profiteering, nepotism, crookedness, and shady deals.
Hm, now these meanings do give one pause to think, do they not? It seems as if our members of Congress are regularly involved with bribery.
Now, let’s consider the oath of office taken. An individual, except the President, elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or uniformed services, shall take the following oath:
Then, from the Constitution: "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers,
both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as
a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."
Recently, Henry Hyde stated the President Clinton had violated his oath. He, along with other high-ranking Republicans, are uni-directional when applying their reasons for impeaching Clinton. They seem to ignore the fact that Republican after Republican (along with their Democrat associates) have also violated their oaths.
Unless, that is, the oath above gives them leave to take briberies in the form of contributions and other perks, to have extra-marital affairs (infidelity), to lie to get into
office or stay in office (dishonesty), to legislate against principles and laws laid down by the constitution of this nation (act of unfaithlessness and possible fraud), and to commit
fraud (deceit, misrepresentation) after fraud.
I could go on and on about violations of trust, of unconstitutional acts, of immoral acts, of actions which mislead the public and the youth of this nation, but, suffice it to state, people in Congress and government are not people of high moral, ethical, and character standards. Example after example presents itself and I personally applaud the actions of Larry Flynt. But that is another story.
Since Republicans have pushed for the impeachment while ignoring their own transgressions, then it is certain they have raised themselves, but not President Clinton, above the laws of the land.
If Mr. Clinton engaged in a criminal conspiracy by lying about Lewinsky, is it not also true that each Congressional
member who has ever had an extra-marital affair has done the same by not admitting to their constituencies during elections and their terms of office in regards to their own transgressions?
They are under oath, but, until forced to, none admit to their dalliances. How many admit to taking campaign funds and then doing favors for the contributors? That is fraud against the American public, especially when such actions are in direct opposition to what is best for the majority.
How about those that sneak special deals for themselves (it is for themselves when they obtain funds from all taxpayers to help their own districts in that it helps assure them re-election or tremendous advantages in perks and money) on needed bills that are certain to pass, regardless of additions by these unscrupulous members of Congress? Is an action of this nature not also fraud against the taxpayers of this nation?
Rather than this being several hundred pages long, Mr. Clinton did no more than any of them and perhaps even less, especially in the light that we don’t know how many have illegitimate children running around without the knowledge of who their real parent is - or have abused power to date-rape - or used harassment techniques for sexual favors - or violated the
trust placed in them by their constituencies (all of us since they are federal legislators), just to name a few.
If the letter of the law must be applied, then let us apply it equally to all members of Congress, not just to Mr. Clinton.
Let us force impeachments of all who have violated the
trust of the American people and destroyed our faith in government.
That is fair - it is just.
Focusing on one person for partisan reasons is not.
"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."