“From Watergate we learned what generations before us have known; our Constitution works. And during the Watergate years it was interpreted again so as to reaffirm that no one – absolutely no one – is above the law.” ~ Leon Jaworski
Last week, like some of you, I watched the prime time coverage of the January 6 American Congressional hearings. At the time, I’d been working on a post on happiness. Well, needless to say, what I heard that evening sickened me and all happiness drained away.
I turned the TV off, looked out the window and asked the question made famous by Marvin Gaye … “What’s Goin’ On?”
- Clearly, the storming of the U.S. Capitol was nothing less than an attack on our democracy.
- Clearly, we are living in a time when a large segment of the population is in open revolt.
The retired conservative jurist J. Michael Luttig, who testified before the committee, offered this observation:
“We Americans no longer agree on what is right or wrong, what is to be valued and what is not, what is acceptable behavior and not, and what is and is not tolerable discourse in civilized society. Some have even characterized the insurrection at the Capitol legitimate political discourse.”
If that’s true ~ What’s Goin’ On?
I’ve always thought of myself as a live and let live kind of guy.
- I’ll give you your space and expect you to give me mine.
- I’ll tolerate your point of view and expect you to tolerate mine.
But that’s all changed now. Intolerance has been made a virtue and truth has been made fungible.
All at the behest an intolerant minority, led by a malevolent autocrat, with the acquiescence of a flock of neutered legislators, fortified by the blind allegiance of millions of rabid followers.
It’s not always been this way.
Fifty years ago this week began what we now know as “Watergate.”
I vividly remember the entire episode. My friend Neil Vance and I were working in Washington and had front row seats to the proceedings.
It was a remarkable time. Each branch of government wrestled mightily with its constitutional duty and acted accordingly.
What they did saved America.
What I found so extraordinary about the whole affair was how members of the President’s own party came forward, confronted him with his lies and forced him to resign, knowing full well it might come at great political cost.
It’s important to remember, Nixon’s resignation at the time was hardly a foregone conclusion. His party had stuck by him through the darkest days of the scandal. Even as its lawmakers whispered behind closed doors about his guilt and even as public opinion polls showed Nixon dragging down their party, they had toughed it out — past the indictments of his top aides, past the courts batting back one attempt at obstruction after another, even past Nixon’s infamous “Saturday night massacre.”
But then on August 6, 1974, at the regular Republican Conference lunch, Barry Goldwater, the most conservative member of the Congress, rose and fumed these unforgettable words to his colleagues:
“There are only so many lies you can take, and now there has been one too many. Nixon should get his ass out of the White House—today!”
With that, the three top Republican leaders marched over to the White House and paid the President a solemn visit. Their message couldn’t have been any clearer: he’d lost the support of his party and needed to immediately resign or else face certain impeachment.
Nixon resigned the following day.
The long national trauma was over.
The Republicans paid a frightful price: the 1974 midterms cost them many seats in Congress. But what they found and what they gave the country was something far greater — a renewed trust in government.
Maybe it’s a good thing at this troubling moment in history to be reminded;
“The trouble with an elastic conscience is that it is apt to fly back and sting you.” ~ George Horace Lorimer
And that your character is your destiny.
Just a thought…
Pat
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