Burke Lincoln Republicans urge Trump impeachment

TO THE EDITOR:

At the most recent meeting of the Lincoln Republicans of Burke County, our membership voted unanimously to express our grave concern over the actions of President Trump, and to call upon Congress to fulfill its constitutional duty by initiating impeachment proceedings.

Our organization takes its name from a president who understood, perhaps more than any other, that the strength of this republic lies not in the power of any single man, but in the enduring framework of our Constitution. It is in that spirit that we speak today.

We are deeply troubled by President Trump’s conduct with respect to military affairs. His administration has undertaken unauthorized military strikes without a declaration of war or meaningful Congressional approval.

These actions represent a dangerous usurpation of power that the Founders deliberately vested in the legislative branch. Article I of the Constitution grants Congress – not the President — the authority to declare war.

Our decades of experience tells us that what is at stake goes beyond a legal dispute. Last week, the president issued a public ultimatum to Iran: meet demands by eight o’clock Tuesday evening or face the annihilation of an entire civilization. He stated flatly that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”

We cannot sit in silence while such threats are made in our name. That is not just a figure of speech. When an American president speaks, he speaks as the representative of every American citizen.

If that threat were ever carried out, the moral weight of that act would fall on all of us. Like it or not, we would all share that guilt. That is why constitutional limits exist, and why they must be enforced. That is why we must speak now, and act now.

A president of any party who exceeds his constitutional authority, and who threatens the destruction of entire civilizations, must be held accountable.

The stakes — for American lives, for our moral standing in the world, and for the civilization we share with our allies — are too high for us to remain silent.

The people of Burke County deserve representatives who will defend the document they swore to uphold. We call on our elected representatives in Congress to act with courage and with conscience. The impeachment process exists precisely for moments such as this.

We need to use it.

Now.

THE LINCOLN REPUBLICANS OF BURKE COUNTY