I can’t speak about other governments, but it seems to me that American government was supposed to be a different than the rest of the world. We used to speak of American exceptionalism. I still do. American exceptionalism doesn’t mean we’re better just because we are American. It means we have an exceptional form of government and we’re all a part of it, and important to it. As I understand it, it was inherently different at its inception because it was the first and only “democracy”. We had decided in our Revolution, we weren’t going to have a king anymore. Why is that?
There are those who want to say that America is founded on Christian principals. I believe that, as well. Even the Founding Fathers couldn’t agree on what being a Christian is, so they went with Christian principles. First among those principals is that we stand as equals in the sight of God. A king isn’t the same as you and me. They are sort of semi-human. A king was above the law. A king is above the law because the king is the law. The King decides what should be law, decides when it should be applied and when it shouldn’t apply to them. If you watch The Crown, you know that there’s part of becoming king or queen when — through the ritual performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury — where the person who was just human the minute before becomes a representative of God, a person who is infallible now, and this makes all of their laws just and right.
“So let it be written, so let it be done” is a phrase that describes the way royalty works. When the Bible speaks of God as “King of Kings”, it means God is a level above the kings of the world in the same way that kings are a level above other humans. “Because I said so!” is also a phrase that describes how royalty deals relates to law, for good or bad. Little kids have their own version of “because I said so!”: “I want it!” usually is accompanied by stomping of feet and a good cry. In either case, the person wants something to happen simply because they said so. They want to be in charge of others, just because. This is the difference between a good king and a bad king — the way they view or use their authority. It’s quite possible, depending on the people or circumstances, to get an immature king or queen. Democracy, however, requires a mature leader — one who can prove their wisdom in the day-to-day leadership that is required by the job. “Because I said so!” will not work for the President of our country. Only success and wisdom can bring authority — and then only for four years.
Say what you want about Donald Trump — mature is not the word that comes to mind. He shouldn’t be given authority to run this country. During his time in office, success isn’t the word that comes to mind, at least for me. There are those who will credit him for the economy, and for mid-east peace, and other things. That doesn’t balance out the destruction he did as President, and people can disagree about that. In a democracy, we settle our disagreement at the ballot box. The President can’t weigh in, because the voters speak and what would be the King doesn’t. When Trump and his cronies tried to, any success he might have had was over-ruled by his immaturity and fits. In short, Trump behaved like a king, and we don’t have kings. Democracy is different.
Instead, we have human leaders and we have laws. The President is no different than anyone else. The President’s a human being, has no claims to divinity, and — as a human being — is not above the law. Because we don’t see divine authority in our leaders, we rely on the authority of the law. Either there’s both law and democracy or there’s neither. There are, among our Presidents, some really good ones and some really bad ones and many in the middle. All of them believed that the law applied to them, whether they like it or not. Nixon resigned because it was apparent he couldn’t respect the law and do things in the way he wanted. The law won.
Bill Clinton, the only President to be impeached prior to Trump, also believed in the law. I’m not sure what law he broke sleeping with Monica Lewinsky, but he was impeached and he accepted that because he believed in the law. He will always be impeached, having the political version of an asterisk next to his name, because he believed the law was more important than he was. Like all Presidents, Trump could be a good President or a bad President, but he must be a law-abiding President. If he’s not, he has to be stopped. Impeachment is the way to do that. If it’s really bad, the President needs to be removed, done the way the law says.
In a democracy, human beings are all equal. The President comes out of the vast collection of humans, and goes back to being a part of the vast collection of humans who make our society better or worse. Because the highest person in our country has consequences for their illegal behavior, the person who steals or assaults or whatever can have consequences for theirs. There’s a certain logic to it.
If a President can get away with murder, and they’re “just” a human being, why should anyone else be held accountable for their crimes? On the other hand, if they can be held liable, then why shouldn’t a criminal be subject to laws as well?
Life ought to make sense– for all of us. If you or I go to work and do a terrible job, we can get fired. If a President does a terrible job, he or she should be able to be fired as well. If we do well, we should get recognition. One of the odd things that this particular former President bases his argument on is that he gets in trouble because people don’t like him. “They pick on me”, he says. People aren’t supposed to be in trouble because people don’t like us. We probably should be in trouble because we’re bad at what we’re doing. If we are the absolutely worst at our job, we will get in trouble no doubt, but it shouldn’t be because people don’t like us. It should be because we’re doing the wrong thing. If the President does well, they should get recognition as well — and they do. If the President doesn’t do well, they should get in trouble as well.
When a regular person goes to court, no one asks them if people like them. The court asks if they did something. The court seldom wants to hear why the person did this or that. Yes, Trump has been under fire since the very first day of his President, because he has done bad things from the moment he arrived. That’s not singling him out, that’s treating him like anybody else. If any other President’ or his team did what Trump or his team did, I would expect them to be in trouble.
This is why impeachment is so important: It can and should happen to anyone, not a member of a party. If we are to believe that any person can be President, than any President can — and should be — treated the same under the law.
I don’t want Donald Trump out of office because I don’t like his hair, or his wife, or his friends. I want Donald Trump out because he broke the law — from the beginning of his Presidency to the end of it. Impeach him and keep him out office forever. Prove he is one of us, despite what he says. Prove that the law means something, because it does, and we do.
Resisting with Peace,
John
Because It Matters 