Laugh? Cry? Both.

Posted 8/21/12

Couldn’t resist commenting on last week’s reporting of LaRouche volunteers showing up in Liberty with posters reading “Impeach Obama: no war in Syria; reinstate Glass-Steagall.” And, for good …

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Laugh? Cry? Both.

Posted

Couldn’t resist commenting on last week’s reporting of LaRouche volunteers showing up in Liberty with posters reading “Impeach Obama: no war in Syria; reinstate Glass-Steagall.” And, for good measure, of course equating him with Hitler. Umm... (a) We aren’t at war with Syria, Obama has steadfastly resisted embarking on another misadventure; (b) Senator Warren (D-MA) sponsored a bill co-signed by John McCain to reinstate certain Glass-Steagall protections, which the president indicated he’d sign. Sooo....”impeach” him for doing precisely what they want, that makes sense. And just what is it with the ongoing, disgusting Hitler comparisons. Hitler? As in genocide, the literal extermination of a designated group? Joking, right?

But it isn’t funny, and it’s broader than the LaRouchets. Sadly, residential signage advocating impeaching the Commander-in-Chief dots our landscape, evidently oblivious of or unconcerned that impeachment is a profoundly serious affair, one that must meet constitutional requisites for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Strong disagreement with policies of a sitting U.S. President of either party, one typically elected by a majority of voters, does not remotely meet the standards for “high crimes,” or partisans would casually call for impeaching every sitting president. Regardless of political differences, all of us should be sobered by and critical of factually-challenged claims and grotesquely overheated rhetoric. Capitalizing on and exploiting disagreement and anger, some media recklessly indulge in inciting audiences with regular, often gleeful abandon, including charges of mass murder. (Now that would be grounds for impeachment.) But this is about the integrity of the Union, and the bloviators won’t lower the volume until we do by calling it out and condemning it, by exercising critical thinking, thoughtful skepticism and measured restraint. Otherwise, we become diminished, and therein is the threat to our country.

M. A. Wolfe

Beach Lake, PA

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