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TheGonch wrote:
> It was Churchill who said that democracy was the worst form of
> government...except for all the others.
Actually, he stole that from DeToqueville <g>. One of the problems of government is
to seek to appease those under it, either by force or "sharing" power. The problem
here is that arbitrary power is the problem, and no less of one whether the tyrant is
a single ruler, a group, or a majority. Principled government, at this stage in
time, would be very difficult to implement, both in terms of the propensity for
corruption (which democracy accommodates quite nicely as well) and in terms of
appeasing the will of the people. The Bill of Rights is a good example - while its
role os to temper such arbitrary power in several categories, many consider this to
be an unfortunate intrusion on their right to decide law, or at least to take part in
selecting representatives to do so - how much more difficult would it be to set up a
form of government based fundamentally upon such principles. Ideally, though, all
use of state power should be subject to *reasonable* justification - which would
significantly impact the way that all governments operate.
> Regarding impeachment, the main standards are treason and 'high crimes
> and misdemeanors'.
In a nutshell, this suggests that criminal behavior is the standard here - "moral
turpitude" would not qualify, in spite of the fact that it was (mistakenly) regarded
as in this class in previous times. The degree of the crime would have to be
significant, as it has to be placed in the context of the punishment - i.e. serious
enough to warrant removal from office. It is inconceivable to me how the alleged
perjury in a civil deposition could constitute sufficient grounds for this most
serious of sanctions.
> The issue
> could turn on things like the potential for blackmail of the president,
> or the abuse of his power to have sex with a subordinate.
Neither of these purportedly apply here though. The cat's already out of the bag
here, and we can reasonably assume that he didn't abuse his power in having this
relationship - it's quite clear that the woman actively sought this out without
coercion. Even so, these examples seem to have less of a claim on impeachment than
the matter at hand IMO.
Regards,
A.J.
>
>
> JMO
>
> Dan Goncharoff
>
> A.J. Carisse wrote:
> >
> > Ken Macht wrote:
> >
> > > All government is bad; the United States has the good fortune to have the
> > > best form. History demonstrates this continually.
> >
> > Don't want to get off topic TOO much <g>, but while I'd say that the U.S. form
> > of government (republican democracy) is probably the best form currently in
> > practice, this doesn't mean that it is the best form, especially if reasonable
> > justification is to be the standard here (as it should be). The major problem
> > is that it abrogates the rights of citizens, to a great extent, on the basis of
> > popularity. All forms of democracy are essentially based upon of subjugation
> > to gang force.
> >
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