The impeachment trial of Donald Trump steps onto the stage of history as another existential test of our nation.
Prior tests are obvious. First, we cut our ties to England, won at war and grounded our new nation in the U.S. Constitution. Then came the Civil War and we reaffirmed our commitment to the principles of freedom. More recently, America defended these principles against fascism and communism for the sake of liberty everywhere.
In these struggles, and others, we prevailed so that the ideals of our Founding Fathers could stay within our reach. Now comes one more test.
The trial of the president is given to the Senate, which from this moment forward has the sole power to decide whether an American president may reject the principles of our Constitution and the cause of liberty. Brave men and women have given their lives for our liberty. Many stand ready to do so today.
Our citizens prove their patriotism by their service, by their respect for laws, and by their daily productive contributions. Now we await our senators in hope that they shall be worthy of our nation and of our times.
Abraham Lincoln stood on the epochal battlefield at Gettysburg and said we must, “be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us … that we highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
The task before the Senate is to choose democracy. If Trump may offend the Constitution without consequence, then in Ronald Reagan’s metaphor, the City on the Hill shines less brightly, and its light may burn out.
Trump’s offenses are serious. He sought foreign assistance in his reelection and he degrades the Congress. This is far worse than Bill Clinton’s lie about an affair. It is equivalent to Richard Nixon’s cover-up, except his was of a mere domestic burglary. Trump is happy to sell out our national security. Trump aims to corrupt the next election and subvert our constitutional separation of powers.
If our senators let these grave offenses go, if they pretend nothing happened, then they disavow the faith of our nation, they dishonor the sacrifices of our forbearers, and they thrust a dagger into the side of the best hope of mankind.
Senators, do not dishonor the Constitution, lest our democracy “perish from the earth.”
Robert C. Steiner, Salt Lake City, is co-CEO of Alsco, Inc., headquartered in Utah since 1895, and was a member of the Utah Senate from 1991 to 1998.
