Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Majority must be heard

Tuesday, Dec. 15, 1998 | 11:53 a.m.

NOW IS the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country. You can read that as gender neutral.

I don't know how many times we had to type those words as young typing students, but I am convinced that at no time did they have any meaning to us other than what was being graded -- which was our ability to type error free. Today there is meaning to those words and I hope, unlike the clueless days of our youth, we understand it before we do something awful.

This week, the House of Representatives will take up the issue of the impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton. It will do so because the Judiciary Committee of the House voted along party lines four separate articles which, if passed this week, could lead to the conviction of the president and his removal from office. This is no longer a big joke. This is serious business which could have lasting repercussions far beyond the "need" for America to let Clinton know that he did something wrong.

And if the public opinion polls that have steadily and unalterably recorded the desires of the American public are to be believed, very few people, other than the Republicans in the House of Representatives, want this to happen. So why does it appear that this Thursday -- two days from now -- the House will vote to impeach the president and there is nothing we can do about it?

The answer to that question is simple. Because that is the way a small but very vocal group of Americans want us to feel. For a very long time now, six years to be precise, the Far Right wing of the Republican Party has searched for the ways and means to undo what the voters of America have done. And that is the election and re-election of Clinton. They have invested a special prosecutor to investigate Whitewater, Filegate, the Travel Office mess and even Vince Foster's unfortunate suicide in an effort to get something, anything, on Clinton in order to drive him from office. They hit all dry holes.

Finally, Clinton gave them the ammunition they needed. His shameful conduct with Monica Lewinsky and his efforts to keep it a secret, which meant lying to family, friends and everyone else who asked, has laid an issue in the laps of everyone desirous of overturning the public's twice considered effort to elect Clinton to lead this country into the next century. And now on Thursday, they'll have their chance. And they may succeed. Not because it is the right thing to do but because the people -- men and women -- have not yet seen the need to come to the aid of their country.

One of the curious aspects of these impeachment proceedings has been the insistence by members of both parties that this vote is one of conscience rather than a political or personal one. As much as that should be so, it is hogwash. For certain, there are some members of the House who are taking this seriously and as a matter of conscience. But for many others, this is as political a vote as ever there could be. For no one in their right and conscience-driven mind could ever really suggest that removing a twice-elected president from office for lying (assuming the worst) is the punishment that fits the crime. For certain, the president did wrong and must be held to account, but undoing the will of the people (the people who insist they don't want this to happen) is not the answer.

So what should men and women do to come to the aid of their country? In this case, Nevadans can play a large part. We have two Republican representatives who have not yet, they say, made up their minds. In one, Jim Gibbons, we have an independent-minded Nevadan who appears willing to do what is not only best for America but for Nevada as well. And in the other one, John Ensign, we have a two-term congressman who ran against Sen. Harry Reid and lost by the closest of margins, which means he has the respect of a great many Nevadans. In both of them, Nevada has the opportunity to say "enough" to this fast moving freight train toward disaster.

There are plenty of ways to punish the president for what he did without subjecting this country and the world to a spectacle of political divisiveness that will bring no honor to our political system. If it is the scarlet letter "I" that some people want to brand Clinton with, I suggest they can be far more eloquent in a censure resolution without a precedent-setting vote which will certainly lower the bar for what constitutes an impeachable offense. And with political paybacks the new order of the day, I fear what may happen to future presidents whose party does not control the Congress.

Both Ensign and Gibbons can speak loudly and clearly for most Nevadans, who want the president punished but don't want him removed from office. For with removal comes a new president. And with what Nevadans have at stake, whether it is a firm presidential hand on the nuclear waste veto pen or a clear understanding of gaming -- the economic lifeblood of Nevada -- we know where Clinton stands. As much as I believe that Vice President Al Gore shares his feelings on both counts, who knows the pressures that may come from an emboldened Far Right Wing of the GOP once it wins this fight. If they can upset two national elections, they can certainly have their way over the nature of the sin of gambling and the need to bury nuclear waste in our back yard.

You see, this is not really a vote of conscience. If that were so, we wouldn't have gotten this far because conscientious people make sure that the punishment fits the crime. This is a vote as political in nature as any that have come before our divided House. Both Ensign and Gibbons can protect Nevada with a vote against impeachment and a vote to censure Clinton. In that way we will have a clear message for our children that lying is not free and a firm grip on our future because we have a president who understands our needs. Removing him from office will be Nevada's worst nightmare.

The GOP is right about one thing, though. This is the most important vote the House will make in many years. Isn't that unfortunate. At a time when Republicans are looking to President Clinton for leadership on important issues like Social Security and health care reform, they are double-speaking by voting to get along without him. They should be looking for ways to work with him for what are really important votes to the American people.

I know Gibbons faces some intra-party pressure because the Far Right constituency sees blood and wants more. Yet he should be independent enough to vote Nevada's interests above those of his party leaders. Ensign, on the other hand, doesn't have to worry about party politics. His can be a vote of conscience. Both men will hear from their constituents. And rest assured, the folks they will hear from are those with Clinton's head at the top of their agenda. That's why the people who don't want their president removed must make their voices heard. Now.

For now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country. For it is our country, not just our president, which is in trouble.

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