I offer this solely as an American citizen…

Our nation was formed in response to tyranny. (See the Declaration of Independence.) We sought ideals like equality, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. (Again, see the Declaration of Independence.) In order to secure these ideals “we the people” created and adopted our Constitution. (See the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States.)

There are two over-arching principles woven into the fabric of our Constitution that are responsible for our nation’s success in combating tyranny and providing those ideals mentioned above. Those two principles are, “balance/separation of power,” and, “checks and balances.” Our constitutional framers achieved balance of power through our three-branch system: executive, legislative, and judicial. Checks and balances was achieved by assigning to those three branches, oversight and accountability over one another.

Impeachment is a core element of our constitution as a means of oversight and accountability. Specifically with regards to the President, if there are charges of wrongdoing that the House of Representatives believes to be credible, it is their constitutional duty to impeach (charge) the President. When that happens, it then becomes the Senate’s constitutional duty job to try those charges with the Chief Justice serving as judge.

My point here is that these oversight and accountability responsibilities are built into the very fabric of what makes America great. Carrying out these responsibilities is not illegal; carrying out these responsibilities does not constitute treason; carrying out these responsibilities does not constitute a coup d’état; carrying out these responsibilities should not precipitate a civil war like division.

Simply put, one cannot claim to respect (much less preserve, protect, and defend) the Constitution while at the same time opposing this process. Regardless of whether we personally hope for conviction and removal from office or acquittal and exoneration we should embrace the process and let the Constitution do its job.