Republicans: Time to Stand and Impeach

As a Republican who has related to my party the past few years the way a disgruntled sports fan supports his team with a bag over his head, I’m almost afraid to believe that the GOP might be on the verge of displaying uncharacteristic courage. But I’d feel better if the new TV spokesman for Viagra, Bob Dole, would ask Pfizer scientists if there’s a derivative that stiffens spines that could be dispatched to fence-sitting Republicans before the House impeachment vote.

With the Democrats and the media elite staring in open-mouthed disbelief, it’s starting to look as if the same Republicans who were supposed to curl into the fetal position after November’s punishing setback may defy public opinion and vote to impeach President Clinton. The key will be the approximately 20 so-called moderate Republicans, now searching their consciences to determine the fate of a president who behaves as though he doesn’t have a conscience. In a Washington ruled by polls, the notion that the GOP would ignore polls in favor of principle has sent a shiver through the White House unmatched by winter weather.

But beyond deciding the political future of America’s Jimmy Swaggart president, the impeachment outcome could have an effect on whether the country continues to drown in a cultural cesspool or grabs the lifeline and pulls itself out. What a slap in the face it would be to the “character doesn’t count” crowd to see that the type of behavior it has dismissed as inconsequential since 1992 actually has consequences after all.

Impeachment might put an end to children lying to their parents with the excuse that it’s OK because they saw the president lie on TV and nothing happened to him. It might put an end to “the Clinton defense” in courtrooms, where lawyers claim their client didn’t really commit perjury because of a word definition that turns black to white and day into night. If morality and values are ever to make a comeback in our society, the impeachment of a president whose behavior embodies our cultural decline would be an excellent place to start.

Clinton supporters’ argument that impeachment and removal from office would reverse the result of the 1996 election is wrong unless they perceive some way in which Dole would be allowed to assume the presidency. If Clinton is not impeached, however, what will in a sense be reversed is the result of the American Revolution. To allow the leader of the land to be placed above the law, monarch-like, is to ignore the precept that we are a nation of laws, not men, and a betrayal of our founding principles. We no more need a King William I now than we wanted a King George III in 1776.

If the Year 2000 computer glitch causes worry for Americans, the 2000 election causes potential terror for the GOP. Depending on how vengeful the scandal-weary voters turn out to be, Republicans face the real prospect of completely losing control of Congress because of their defiance on the impeachment issue. To vote in lockstep with a majority of Americans’ wishes would be predictable in these shallow times, but to put conscience ahead of polls in the teeth of possible electoral defeat would be heroic. As House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry J. Hyde said Sunday, “If Jesus had taken a poll, he never would have preached the gospel.” And if Lincoln had obeyed the will of the people, he never would have waged a war to end slavery.

A vote for impeachment would draw a sharp difference between the two parties, a difference made fuzzy by the Democratic Party’s theft of so many Republican positions these past six years. Since the Democrats will never “me too” the GOP on impeaching Clinton, let them be seen as the party of perjury, while Republicans campaign as the party of principle. And the GOP should not cower from the prospect of facing Al Gore as the Oval Office incumbent if Clinton is ultimately removed. Almost two years in office would reveal Gore more clearly as the condescending and hollow man he is.

Many demoralized Republicans are praying our party’s moderates will perform in such a way that we can remove the bags from our heads. We hope they will conclude, to paraphrase Barry Goldwater, that moderation in defense of the Constitution is no virtue.