As special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election appears to be in its final stages, it seems increasingly likely that President Trump will be implicated in a federal crime. If so, Congress must act; members must abide by their oath to support and defend the Constitution by holding Trump accountable through impeachment proceedings. The oversight responsibility, designed to guard against tyranny, has held since ratification more than 230 years ago. Whether it will continue to hold is entirely up to the 116th Congress.
It can be argued that not since the Civil War has there been as serious a threat to the structure of our government, as it was envisioned by the Framers. President Lincoln, credited with having saved the Republic, spoke with eloquence and solemnity about the sacrifices made by those who died defending our constitutional democracy “to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.” Since then, countless other Americans, on too many battlefields to count, also gave the last full measure defending our freedoms. Allowing Trump to preside over the subversion of the Constitution without accountability would render the system of checks and balances purposeless and desecrate the graves of the fallen.
Jim Paladino
Tampa
