Constitutional Thoughts

The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall
be removed from Office on Impeachment for and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery,
or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

This is Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution, the Impeachment Clause, and I have been thinking about this lately. The "high Crimes and Misdemeanors" phrase is more of a "catch-all" to include any offense the House and Senate deem worthy of impeachment. However, the Founding Fathers were clear that two deeds not to be tolerated by officers of the United States were treason and bribery. One of the things I find interesting about how bribery is included is that it does not specify the direction, or in other words, it may apply to both the person offering a bribe or the person accepting a bribe.

Obviously, we are still at the beginning of the scandal involving Mr. Blagojevich, but it does raise some interesting issues. Did someone representing "The Office of the President-Elect" offer Mr. Blagojevich any sort of bribe? Since there really is no such office for the President-Elect and the Impeachment Clause is generally considered not to apply to members of Congress, did Senator Obama get lucky in that all this happened before he actually took the office of President of the United States? Does it matter that Article IV, Section 14 of the Illinois Constitution does not specifically condemn bribery?

Mostly, I am just curious about the fact that the U.S. Constitution is so clear that bribery is not to be tolerated. This is not about a President lying under oath or having sexual relations outside of marriage, which would be actions that would have to fit under the "high Crimes or Misdemeanors" category (thereby allowing Senators do debate whether such actions were really high crimes or misdemeanors). This about the President-Elect allegedly being connected to or condoning bribery, an action clearly not to be tolerated by officers of the United States under the Constitution.

Constitutional Thoughts

The people will be represented; they ought therefore to choose the
representatives. The requisites in actual representation are that the
representatives should sympathize with their constituents; should think as they
think; and feel as they feel; and that for these purposes should even be
residents among them.
-George Mason

This comment from George Mason, Constitutional Convention delegate from Virginia, was supposed to describe the right of the people based on Article 1, Paragraph 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution. The people had the right to be represented by someone like them, who lived in the similar circumstances with them. I cannot help but feel that this right is all but gone. I will say that I think there are numerous representatives that can claim to follow this idea, but the majority do not seem to understand it in the least. The idea of politics as a profession would probably have struck the Founders as odd. Yet that is all we seem to have at this point. Professional politicians do not seem capable of understanding the circumstances and intentions of the people they represent because they appear too focused on their own goals and ambitions.

Constitutional Thoughts

But neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the
liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.
He therefore is the truest friend of the liberty of his country who tries most
to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will
not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a
wise and virtuous man."
-Samuel Adams

I find this statement interesting for many reasons. To begin with, it is not the Constitution or our laws that do the most to secure our liberty; it is our virtue. Accordingly, the truest friend of liberty, or the most patriotic, promotes and practices the best virtues of the country and himself. It stands to reason that the truest leader of the country, or best leader of the country, would be that person that best promotes virtue and wisdom. And we should all do our best to make sure that our leaders meet that standard.

Course Correction

I have decided that I am going to make a little bit of a change of course for this blog. My goal will be simple, I want to try and take the opportunities presented by current events to try and teach a little bit about the Constitution and the intent of the Founding Fathers. This will not be a big change, but I have been reading quite a bit about the Constitution lately and it fascinates me when compared to current events and how we view government, especially federal government. I will still do some of the other things I have done in the past, like comment about interesting articles I find, but I definitely want to add something that is more my own creation. I will use the broad subject of Constitutional Thoughts to highlight my attempts. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do. Thanks.

Worth the Read

The article by A. Scott Loveless should be read by everyone (HT: Prof. Hugh Hewitt, so it probably has been read by just about everyone). I will warn you that it is a long article, but well worth the time and effort to read. I say "effort" because there are some relatively deep principles discussed in the article, but the understanding received by reading it is worth the effort. The explanation of the principles described in the Declaration of Independence is very important for anyone who really wants to understand the problem with same-sex marriage. The article is a great example of the importance of fighting and winning the "culture war." The bottom line is that we have lost our perspective on the true source of our individual rights and liberties, our responsibilities to each other, and ultimately our ability to experience and enjoy true freedom.

Constitution Day

Since today is Constitution Day, it would be a good time to read not only the Constitution itself, but this great speech about the Constitution given by Pres. Ezra Taft Benson. The Constitution is indeed an important document and we need to understand it better so we can defend and preserve it better. I would also recommend Dr. W. Cleon Skousen's book The Making of America as a great source for learning about the Constitution. I should also take a moment and thank Prof. Hugh Hewitt. Despite my mediocre grades in his Constitutional Law class, Prof. Hewitt and Prof. John Eastman (now Dean Eastman, and I got better grades in his First Amendment class) instilled a wonderful curiosity and interest for the Constitution. I consider myself very lucky to have studied the Constitution under both of them. Thank you both.