By John F. Di Leo, Opinion Contributor
The U.S. House of Representatives has impeached Alejandro Majorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security.
The Constitution sets a very high bar for the removal of an officeholder through impeachment. Everyone is certain that this bar will not be cleared in the U.S. Senate.
Many onlookers, including plenty of our Republican representatives themselves, therefore wonder, what’s the point?
And you might not expect it, but this very issue is at the heart of one of the biggest disagreements in the current Republican party.
There is an unwritten parliamentary rule among legislators in leadership: You never call a vote on any measure unless you know, for certain, that you are going to win it.
There’s a lot to be said for that rule. It avoids embarrassment. Avoids failure. Avoids wasting time.
With anything that needs to get through both houses of Congress, therefore, the rule is extended to include even a bill that would pass one body, but is sure to fail in the other. Again, the sensible question is, what’s the point? Shouldn’t we be making better use of our time?
But there is another viewpoint. And this one requires stepping back a moment, and looking at the big picture.
Why do we elect people in the first place?
It’s not just to pass a budget and write new laws.
We elect our representatives to enunciate the principles of America. To keep the spirit of American liberty alive. To remind the public, constantly, what our country is all about.
We elect legislators to stand for American values, even when outnumbered, so that voters remember why they need to choose more wisely in the next election. And the next. And the next.
Why do we propose bills that would cut oppressive taxes, reduce unconstitutional regulations, close rogue federal agencies? Because that’s what ought to happen. And if we don’t say so, out loud, every day, we might eventually forget that it needs to be done.
There is one more reason. We propose the right bills, and we take them to the floor and call that roll call, every chance we get, because even if the bill fails, calling the question puts everyone on record.
When a popular tax cut or principled regulatory correction is proposed, and it goes down, political candidates on the right side of the question have a specific “No vote by their incumbent opponents to highlight in the campaign ads of the summer and fall.
Challengers, whether in swing districts or sacrificial lamb jurisdictions, need to have clear issues to run on.
Republicans in Congress have a duty to work as hard as they can to expand their numbers in the next election. They therefore have an obligation to give their fellow candidates lots of ammunition to work with on the campaign trail – ammunition like this.
What kind of legislator could possibly vote to protect the regime’s point man for open borders, in direct contradiction to not only the Constitution but his very job title?
Ultimately, clarifying that point is what this impeachment vote is at heart.
It isn’t just a referendum on a corrupt, treasonous cabinet secretary, who is personally leading the charge to flood our nation with millions of illegal aliens, among whom are countless thousands of robbers, rapists, drug dealers, and killers.
This impeachment is also a litmus test.
Everyone who votes to impeach this reprehensible enemy of the people has stood for the rule of law.
And everyone who votes against this impeachment has locked arms with the Biden-Harris regime, joining forces in intentionally weakening our nation’s economy, community, and culture.
If you don’t hold such a vote – every chance you get – you allow all such vermin to get away with it.
Copyright 2024 John F. Di Leo
John F. Di Leo is a Chicagoland-based trade compliance trainer and transportation manager, writer, and actor. Once a County Chairman of the Milwaukee County Republican Party in the 1990s, after serving as president of the Ethnic American Council in the 1980s, he has been writing regularly for Illinois Review since 2009. Follow John F. Di Leo on Facebook, Twitter, Gettr or TruthSocial.
A collection of John’s Illinois Review articles about vote fraud, “The Tales of Little Pavel,” and his 2021 political satirical discourses about current events, “Evening Soup with Basement Joe,” Volumes One, Two, and Three, are available in either paperback or eBook, only on Amazon.
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