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I was driving back from running to the grocery store at lunch today and saw a truck pull out ahead of me with an “Impeach Obama” bumper sticker. When I saw that, I had to wonder if this person was either ignorant or willfully stupid about what was required for a Federal official to be impeached. This in turn got me thinking about recent presidents and what is required for impeachment.

So let’s look at Presidents who have been impeached or seriously threatened with it. Andrew Johnson was impeached in the House and found not guilty in the Senate. With Richard Nixon, there was a motion with a lot of steam to impeach him that he headed off by resigning. Bill Clinton was impeached in the House and found not guilty in the Senate.

In order for the President to be impeached, there has to be enough evidence of “high crimes and misdemeanors” for the House to vote in favor of articles of Impeachment. You cannot impeach a President (or any other Federal official) just because you dislike their policies or you think they’re doing things wrong. Andrew Johnson was accused of violating the Tenure of Office Act. I’m sure most people are aware of why impeachment was being considered for Nixon. Bill Clinton was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice.

Right now, I’ve yet to see anything Obama has done that would warrant impeachment. Do I agree with everything? Absolutely not (not that this is a big shock to anyone reading this). Do I think some of the things he’s done have been shady and borderline? Sure, but then so were many of the things G.W. Bush did in his administration.

Calling for impeachment just because you don’t like a President’s policy cheapens the process and what impeachment means. Disagree all you want, but if you’re going to start yelling for impeachment, please make sure there’s something worthy of it. Much like people on either side of the healthcare discussion screaming ‘NAZI’ at the other side, calling for impeachment on frivolous grounds just makes you look like an idiot.

stranger Personal Thought

After discussions with various friends and the like, I feel the need to make a general statement here regarding my baseline position when it comes to the current Healthcare debate (or really any other government proposal that I see as an expansion of an already intrusive Federal Government).

My starting point for anything is “where does the Federal Government have the authority to do this?” With many of the programs that are brought forward, no matter what side of the aisle serves as the point of origin, my take on it is ‘no.’

Healthcare Reform/National Healthcare? No.
Corporate Bailouts/Take overs? No.
Providing Prescription Drugs? No.

While nits can be picked back and forth regarding various proposals and the like for healthcare reform and/or a form of National healthcare, the simple fact remains that I do not believe the Federal Government has the authority to do this. I’m sure there are a number of people who will point to Article I Section 8 (for those who don’t know that chapter and verse, it says the following: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;). General Welfare, as I read that, does not mean the Federal Government is allowed to take the fruits of the labors of one group of people and give it either directly or indirectly to other people. That is an abuse of the authority to use force given to the Government.

So the bottom line is I don’t care if one side or the other or both is lying is what is proposed. I don’t care if people showing up at Town Hall meetings are hired/organized by the healthcare industry or sent out by the unions. The bottom line for me remains that this is not the responsibility of the Federal Government in the first place, and they should turn their attention to other things, like cutting the amount of money Washington is spending (that we don’t have in the first place) rather than finding new things on which to spend more money we don’t have.

stranger Personal Thought

A tweet I received today pointed me to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct–N3hJfxs. It’s a ten minute segment of Rachel Maddow decrying and “debunking” the grass roots efforts in motion to derail the Democrat move to “reform” healthcare. Leaving aside my issues with Maddow herself, this is all presented as all of the efforts at townhall meetings and the like as simply being Republican and Corporate funded PR.

In her report, Maddow points her viewers to the “National Coalition” listed at the bottom of the webpage for Recess Rally. She proceeds to cherry pick parts of the listed organizations/people and give reasons to why they couldn’t possibly represent “normal, middle-class people.” She dismisses Michelle Malkin purely on the basis of her being a FoxNews pundit. Others, she points out those organizing the groups are rich Republicans, pushing people to the conclusion that because these are the people organizing it that it couldn’t possibly include actual normal people in Middle Class America.

In doing this, she’s doing the same sort of thing she’s lambasting the Republicans for supposedly doing. She’s misrepresenting facts to push them into a spin that works for her position. As well, she’s gladly trumpeting what the Democrat health plan isn’t (but is accused of being), all the while skirting what it actually is.

I will note, however, that Maddow is correct that this isn’t a Socialist or Communist take over of Health Care in the United States. These both imply that either the Government or the People have control of the industry. Instead, it’s a Fascist take over where the health care industry is still in private hands, but everything about it is dictated from the Federal Government. However, the tone of her report gives the impression that even that isn’t the case.

I make no bones about the fact Maddow’s on screen persona annoys me to no end. That doesn’t change the fact, however, that she’s perpetuating just as much of a PR spin as that of which she’s accusing the Republicans. In not looking any deeper than who is running less than half of the named organizations at Recess Rally (while leaving the implication that they’re all like this), she’s simply spinning this to show that people should just ignore all of the complaints (legitimate or not) that are coming out during the Summer Recess and stop standing in the way of the Democrats fixing Health Care.

I’m the last person to say there aren’t problems with the Health Care industry. However, I am likely to be one of the last to look to the Government to provide the solution. The Federal Government has proven time and time again it simply mucks things up worse when they start mucking around in Free Market systems. I simply do not see Health Care, especially with the information that is already out there, being any better. It’s obvious, however, that Rachel Maddow has bought into the idea of the Feds “saving” Healthcare.

stranger News, Personal Thought