If you swear an oath to do impartial justice, and then vote your conscience, how is it conscionable for someone else to censure you for not voting the partisan way that they wanted you to vote? If following the Constitution gets you in trouble, is not the whole system broken?
We already know our founding fathers rolled their desiccated eyes when Trump announced his candidacy and rolled in their graves when he committed his first impeachable action (long before his “perfect” Ukraine phone call). By this point, they’ve rolled more than the busiest sushi chef, and their dusty remains are probably somewhere in the south pacific, searching for signs of intelligent life along with James Cameron at the bottom of the ocean, since the people of the republic they founded have failed the test of time. I for one think Aquaman has a far greater appreciation for recognizing right and wrong than the RNC.
Ten House Representatives crossed the line by honestly condemning the blatant reality that the commander in chief unleashed a militia on the Capitol and then he sat back refusing to call off his deplorable army. It was not some gray area, nuanced, subtle subject. It was not a hoax or a witch hunt. It was not a Republican issue. Trump once boasted that his voters would let him get away with shooting someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue. But shouldn’t the members of congress be more demanding?
Seven Senators stood up and said “enough” and meant it; Lindsey’s weak-kneed “enough” stand from a month ago doesn’t count. After reviewing convincing evidence from the impeachment managers, unbalanced by the unhinged, off the wall, irrelevant and irreverent defense from three stooges, this small minority of the minority party (though not a minority among them) rendered impartial verdicts.
Hypothetically, let’s say that you’re an Eagles fan (we’re a lot less vocal these days after the past season; some bad things did happen in Philly, but also on the road). You want your team to win. You are disappointed when they lose. You may truly despise the opposing team and its fanbase, at least on gameday. But the Eagles lose. Badly. By over 7 million votes points. A landslide margin. And then your head coach hires a hit squad to take out the referees, who called a straight game. Sure, there were a couple of calls that could have gone either way, but they were consistently, fairly awful officials who had no communication with the late Hugo Chavez. The assassins do not end up offing any striped shirts, but they do kill some security and cause a lot of damage, not to mention embarrassing your city even more than the sorry level of football did. The season’s over, the coach is fired, but people are clamoring for consequences, including preventing the criminal coach from rejoining the league.
If you’re on the jury, does your loyalty to the team force you to side with your horrible head honcho? You examine the facts. The prosecutors show you the tweets receipts, the video evidence, the hitmen shouting that “This is for coach!” The pathetic, porous Philly defense team argues that everyone hates Philly (a true statement by the broken clock theory), plays a video montage of other teams (who never literally tried to kill the zebras), gave Bill Cosby a free pass, and pleads the fifth during questioning. You accept your responsibility to deliberately deliver unbiased judgment, feeling proud that you did not just blindly follow your homer instincts. And then your friends, associates, supporters, et al, declare you the traitor! You’re censured, which in this case is a more severe outcome than anything done to the guy who tried to have people killed (people were killed, just not his intended targets).
[For the record, Doug Pederson never hired any hitmen or otherwise tried to take out any officials to my knowledge. This was just a hypothetical analogy, which falls short because the coach in the real world did not just go after the officials; he also sent the lynch mob after his assistant coach.]
Censured for doing an honest job!?!?
I’m sorry, but that’s bullshit. Even for a shameless party with no pretense of propriety. Justice is supposed to be blind, not allegiances. If this uncompromising insane loyalty to leadership (even after the leader is deposed) does not end, somebody will get hurt. Wait, we’re past that part. Everybody will get hurt, and democracy will die.
Go censure yourself, GOP.
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