Now that this thing has played out and the hyperbole (hopefully) begins to wear down let me tell you what the REAL concern to come out of all this is. Try to step back from "sides" for a minute and pretend you are totally neutral on all the issues (Texus, you are excused. I know you cannot do this). But everybody else take as neutral a stance as you possibly can. Now, based on the evidence that was presented I can see where reasonable people could arrive at different conclusions as to what actually happened and what the significance of it really was. In the interest of transparency I'll admit that I was in the "not impeachable" camp. However, I can understand why some may have felt otherwise.
But the one thing I know for an absolute fact is that there is no way such reasonable differences could have been so perfectly split down party lines. There is no way that totally objective, non-partisan people would not have been a little more mixed in their personal conclusions. I like to believe that the vote for additional witnesses for example would probably be about the same, but the mixture of Republicans and Democrats on each side would not be almost straight down party lines. There should have been more Republicans for and more Democrats against. So, what this tells us is that our representative republic is not working like it should. We are now polarized totally around political party lines and individual thinking is taking a back seat. Discourse and rational discussion is dead. Real facts, and how we determine them are largely irrelevant. And our "watchdogs of liberty" in the media are contributing to and not helping to solve the problem. This, and not who did or didn't prevail in this impeachment effort is what represents the true threat to our Constitutional processes and ultimately our democracy.
But the one thing I know for an absolute fact is that there is no way such reasonable differences could have been so perfectly split down party lines. There is no way that totally objective, non-partisan people would not have been a little more mixed in their personal conclusions. I like to believe that the vote for additional witnesses for example would probably be about the same, but the mixture of Republicans and Democrats on each side would not be almost straight down party lines. There should have been more Republicans for and more Democrats against. So, what this tells us is that our representative republic is not working like it should. We are now polarized totally around political party lines and individual thinking is taking a back seat. Discourse and rational discussion is dead. Real facts, and how we determine them are largely irrelevant. And our "watchdogs of liberty" in the media are contributing to and not helping to solve the problem. This, and not who did or didn't prevail in this impeachment effort is what represents the true threat to our Constitutional processes and ultimately our democracy.
