In 1787 a group of almost ordinary people met in an uncomfortably hot room in the worst part of summer in Philadelphia to discuss what they thought would be the best way to centralize a government for thirteen very different states in some sort of union that all could support. Through weeks of argument and dozens of compromises, they tenuously agreed to a very brief document they called The Constitution of the United States. Few expected it would be in effect almost 250 years later and would be considered among the greatest documents ever created by man, but because of a dogged determination by an incredibly diverse culture, it has survived. It has faced terrible crises over the centuries, but it has worked as a basis as one of the great powers of the world by maintaining its greatest tenet — the theory that the people hold the power and never a magistrate.
We have faced perhaps the greatest threat ever — a president who managed to cultivate a cultlike following whose members believe he was above normal standards of decency and law. That man convinced millions of people he had their best interests at heart, and that when he was convincingly defeated in his attempt at reelection, that he and his followers had been defrauded, but he was unable to produce any believable evidence. Next he attempted to end the tradition of a peaceful transition of power from one leader to the next by encouraging an insurrection of his most loyal followers.
Such actions are deserving of impeachment and conviction. Failure to do so has lent support to authoritarianism. If a tyrant escapes exposure and punishment, the whole idea of rule by the people is forever threatened. Even a celebrated document like our Constitution cannot survive intact. The world is watching us. The future is watching us.
J. C. Smith, St. George