Grotesque Malevolent Koala

Of all of the common arguments against impeachment that I've examined so far, this one is by far the one with the least merit.

I've seen and heard it phrased many different ways:

• "Why take away the rope they're using to hang themselves?"
• "Look how well 2006 went for us, 2008 will be even better at this rate!"
• "There's no upside for Democrats in impeachment."

If confronted with this argument, I encourage you to drive straight to the heart of the matter: Any such partisan viewpoint on the matter is exactly the kind of "party before country" mentality that Democrats have been accusing the Republicans of for years. Such accusations have been quite accurate. For a Democrat to adopt such an attitude now is the height of rank hypocrisy, and, as such, should be strongly challenged.

The implications of impeachment go far beyond the immediate concerns of the 2008 election. Arguably, the future of our democracy is at stake.

Does the previous statement seem far-fetched? Then consider this little-known fact about impeachment: Upon successful conviction, the guilty party is not only removed from office, but is barred from ever again holding political office in the future. As it is laid out in our Constitution:

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party, (defendant), convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

Bearing that in mind, let's review a little history.

• In 1974, President Nixon resigned when it became clear that a successful impeachment was forthcoming. At the time, Cheney was Nixon's Deputy Assistant to the President.
• Under Gerald Ford, Cheney worked as Assistant to the President and later became Ford's Chief of Staff.
  
• During the Reagan administration, Cheney (then a Congressman) was the ranking minority member on the congressional committee to investigate the Iran-Contra scandal.
• Under the current President, Cheney (as Vice President) created the Office of Special Plans in order to bypass the normal intelligence-assessment process, build the case for the Iraq War, and promote it to the American public through official channels.
  

There are two things that are important to note in this brief tour of history:

• First, the seriousness of the transgressions against our Constitution have become increasingly worse over the last few decades.
• Second, Vice President Cheney has had a long career in government. There is every reason to expect that he will continue to be involved in government for as long as he is able to.
  

Clearly, impeachment matters in the long run even more than the short run. If we are going to halt this steady race to the bottom in terms of Presidential behavior, there is no alternative but to place future executives -- regardless of the party they represent -- on notice that such behavior will not be tolerated. A successful impeachment not only stops the problem now, it helps prevent problems like it in the future.


SUMMARY:

• A Democrat who avoids impeachment on partisan grounds is just as guilty as the Republicans when it comes to putting "party before country".
  
• Impeachment is even more important in the long term than in the short term.
• Impeachment not only removes the guilty party from office, it also prevents that party from ever holding office again.
• The trend over the last few decades suggests that impeachment is the only option for putting a stop to increasingly egregious executive branch abuses.