"We hear a great deal today about the presumably grim consequences of the impeachment of the President—an endless public trial, a people divided, a government paralyzed, a nation disgraced before the world. But suppose the House of Representatives should decide not to impeach Mr. Nixon. That would have its consequences, too—consequences that deserve at least as careful an examination.
For the refusal to impeach would be a decision as momentous as impeachment itself. It would and could be interpreted only as meaning that Congress does not think Mr. Nixon has done anything to warrant impeachment. It would alter the historic relationship of Presidential power to the constitutional system of accountability for the use of that power. The message our generation would send to posterity would be that Mr. Nixon, whatever his other disasters, had conceived and established a new conception of Presidential accountability, and that his successors, so long as they take care to avoid the crudities of a Watergate burglary, can expect to inherit Mr. Nixon’s conception of inherent Presidential authority and to wield the unshared power with which he will have endowed the Presidency. Failure to impeach would be a vindication of a revolutionary theory of Presidential accountability."
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YEP!!! And ain't we payin the price NOW???
Now I got this from a post by EmptyWheel (Marci) at NextHurrah entitled 'Curbing the Imperial Presidency', and her analysis is definitely worth a read!
Link:
http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/06/curbing_the_imp.htmlEnjoy!
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