Letters to the Editor: The message of impeachment? We must demand better.

It’s up to us

Waiting for the outcome of the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump seems like a good time to remind ourselves of some basic big picture realities.

The first and most important is that Trump is not the problem — he is a symptom of far greater problems.

At no time in our recent or distant past could a person with the history, temperament, or tendencies of citizen Trump be seriously considered as a candidate for president. If we ask ourselves what has changed, the answers are not hard to find.

For decades, 40 percent and more of our eligible voters have not taken the first and most basic step in participation in a democracy.

Candidates have learned how to woo the remaining voters with a message of “Government is inherently corrupt and incompetent. Send me to Washington and I will prove it.”

The companion to this is even more dangerous: The idea that to expect competent, ethical government leaders is somehow naïve.

Corporations and individuals have built fortunes fanning the flames of our division while too many of us cheer them on from the sidelines.

We must begin paying attention and demand better. Better from our government and ourselves.

Scott Land, Perryville

GOP opportunity

It’s time for the Republican Party to buy back its soul from the devil. Surely they can muster 20 votes to put a real Republican in the White House. Twenty votes would put a committed Evangelical Christian as the incumbent in the next election. A return to conservative values and fiscal responsibility with strong support for the military would go a long way to repairing what’s wrong with the party. With Vice President Mike Pence in the White House as the incumbent and with the good economy, any negative news between now and the election can be laid at the feet of the current administration. With the whole tenor of the election changed, the party might have a chance to save its Senate majority. All it takes is 20 votes to free the oppressed and get their own souls back, unless they like being cowed by one individual who puts his interests above everyone in the world.

Kerry Kearns, Nicholasville

Textbook example

I am dismayed and sickened by Sen. Mitch McConnell’s unwillingness to subpoena documents and witnesses for the ongoing impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. To deny the public the opportunity to witness a full and fair trial is an abdication of his responsibility as a public servant. Just as high-profile business scandals serve as case studies for business ethics textbooks at universities across the country, I have no doubt that this case will be examined thoroughly in legal ethics and other applied ethics textbooks in the future. The question I have for the senator is how he wants to be remembered — as the Senate leader who did the right thing or as a political lackey who enabled an impeached president to further destroy our democratic institutions and the American values we hold dear.

Andrea Reed, Louisville

Scary precedent

The Senate is embarked upon establishing an unprecedented precedent in the Trump impeachment. In setting up this trial, the Clinton impeachment was ostensibly used as precedent. This modified model will become a precedent for future impeachments, forever weakening the possibility of ridding our democracy of an unfit leader. Failure to require the requested documents to be presented sets precedent for future presidents to deny congressional requests, weakening the foundation of our democracy and the equality of congressional power. The standards of the Senate and the presidency are in danger of being lowered to the point of making a mockery of justice and democracy.

Jesse P. Mark, Lexington

Dems strategy

In a recent Associated Press article, the Democratic House impeachment managers admit and acknowledge the repetition of their presentations in the Senate trial. As the Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels said: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

William Riffe, Lancaster

Cold comfort

So Sen. Lindsey Graham wants us to cut Donald Trump some slack because the occupant of the White House thinks he “did nothing wrong in his mind.” Gee, Lindsey, I don’t think having a president who is delusional is going to help America sleep any better than having a president who is criminal and morally bankrupt. We lock up people who are dangerous to themselves and others.

Charles Edward Pogue, Lexington