Bucks
Patrick Murphy thoughts on Impeachment Term Limits - Part 2
Dear Friends,
Good morning. “Be careful [about] what you wish for,” Patrick Murphy laughed. Ten days ago, the Congressman (8th District) and I had a chat about three topics. The first two were the possible impeachment of the President and national mandatory service for all high school graduates…no exceptions. Murphy is for national service…me too, as you faithful readers know. Term limits rounded out the three.
During our conversation, I asked him whether he would support an impeachment attack on the president? That’s when he observed, “Be careful what you wish for.” Murphy was referring to Vice President Cheney succeeding “W” if the Congress impeaches the president and convicts him. In this scenario, America would experience Dick Cheney as President. Darth Vader, as I call him.
All kidding aside, Murphy was serious about his assessment of the president. “If the evidence is there [presidential wrong doing], there’s a moral obligation to impeach,” Murphy began, “but don’t put the cart before the horse.”
We’ve been
hearing stories about impeachment for some time. The most recent twist comes
from
The key to the impeachment process lies with which party controls subpoena power. The Democrats do because they form the majority in both the House and the Senate. The question is…do the Democrats have the political will? Looking back at the failed attempt to expel former President Clinton when Republicans controlled Congress, you might think that turn about is fair play.
Clinton was impeached, though not convicted, for lying about his tryst with Monica Lewinsky. Is President Bush guilty of more serious crimes? Stay tuned.
You could sense Murphy’s frustration with congressional life in Washington when he made several observations. “I’m a fiscal conservative,” he continued. “In March of this year, the interest on the national debt was $21 billion, compared to just $5 billion in the budget for education.
“We’ve spent $450 billion on the war in Iraq yet the president is quibbling over $333 million in funding for the Peace Corp” Murphy added.
When we turned to national service, he wonders whether his congressional colleagues will object to the cost of having every young person serve for two years. How ironic…congress questions the cost of national service but approved $450 billion for the war in Iraq…where nearly 4,000 Americans have been killed.
However, Murphy is strident about the value of national service where every high school graduate would have the option to serve in the military or a non combative role…such as the Peace Corp, park system, hospitals and the like…no exception. “Kids will be better citizens after they’ve given service to America,” Murphy said. “They’ll be more likely to be a community volunteer, more likely to vote.”
And finally, we addressed term limits.
“Don’t you think that congress and the 50 state legislatures would have solved problems like immigration, health care, mass transit, social security, red ink, and an energy strategy which would end America’s dependency on Middle East oil…if term limits forced a sense of urgency,” I asked? “If congressmen, senators and state representatives could serve no more than 12 years…six terms in the Congress and two terms in the senate…wouldn’t these problems have been cured 20 years ago? After all, the President of the United States can only serve eight years.”
“I need to do my homework on this [term limits],” Murphy responded. “But, if I don’t think that I’m moving the ball forward for Bucks County families, I won’t run for reelection,” he said.
That wasn’t quite the answer I was hoping to hear…but that will have to wait for another day. Our conversation ended with his final assessment about his new career in Washington.
“I love this job,” Murphy concluded, “I’m trying to make this country different.”
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith