Same As Before Only Different

What a difference a year makes.  Why it seem like just one year ago today we were seeing the President acquitted on a bogus charge in an impeachment trial and here we are...wait, uh...about to start an impeachment trial of the same president, now out of office, on another bogus charge!  How can that possibly be???

This day in History, February 5, 2020...President Donald Trump was acquitted in his Senate impeachment trial.  Only one senator didn't vote with their party- guess who?

Republican Senator Mitt Romney voted guilty on the first article of impeachment, that Trump abused his power in pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden and his son. However he did join all the other Republicans in voting not guilty on the second article, obstruction of Congress, for Trump blocking witnesses and documents from the House's impeachment inquiry.

So one goose chase ends and a year later another begins (the trial starts Monday). What a country!  Perhaps "goose" chase is too mean spirited for all the self respecting geese and real geese chasers out there.

There is a more sinister and corrosive thing going on here than a mere slap stick flurry of goose feathers and I can use myself as an example.  The idea of an "impeachment" used to be a very big deal to me and I'm making an assumption here, but I believe more Americans than not, feel the same way.  To my mind, impeachment was the worst of the worst things you could do to a President.  You make an accusation that somehow the President has betrayed the nation and its people.   A very big deal indeed.

But now, with this joke to come, on the heels of a joke that just was, and well, I'm losing respect for the whole idea and especially the people who proliferate and attempt to profit from it.  When a solemn and lethal tool like impeachment can be wildly wielded by ham fisted, sputtering partisans for political expediency, it erodes the confidence you might have had in the system.

I used to have a lot more respect for the Capitol, the Whitehouse the various institutions of Government, but after seeing them both trashed from the inside and used against everyday Americans on the outside these past dozen years, the luster is long gone.

And so here we go again.

Today we remember the last impeachment.  You may recall Trump was acquitted on abuse of power charges 52 to acquit and 48 to convict.  He was also acquitted of obstructing Congress  53 to acquit and 47 to convict.  .Both votes falling nearly 20 votes short of the 67 votes needed to convict.

Tomorrow, preparations will be made for the big game...no, not the Super Bowl on Sunday, but the Super Sham on Monday.  Trump won the last one, and he'll win this one too. The Democrats don't care so the losers will once again be the American people, the Constitution and America's crumbling faith and trust in its government.

Have a good weekend.