The Articles of Impeachment

FOR RELEASE: December 15, 1998

WASHINGTON, DC -- US Rep. Ron Paul has issued the following statement regarding his position on the pending Articles of Impeachment of the President:

"No one should be proud of the impeachment proceedings of the past year. The tawdry behavior of the president makes even his most staunch defenders wince as the gory details of his sexual escapades are revealed to a public disgusted by the entire process. I believe that disgust is directed at the continued trend in our nation toward a federal government that pries into the most private aspects of our lives.

"The American public is further disgusted by the sheer hypocrisy of the Clinton Administration and the Congress. While this President and Congress continue to pass and enact laws that slowly deprive Americans of more privacy, Mr. Clinton complains loudly that his privacy is being violated in this process, that he should be left alone. Note, of course, that this 'right to be left alone' is good for him, but not the millions of Americans whose privacy he allows agencies under his control to violate almost at whim.

"This Administration has been among the most aggressive in using federal prosecutors and agency regulators to attack Americans' liberties and privacy; take cases and regulations of the FDIC, the EPA, the BATF and the IRS, for example. However, this President is upset that an aggressive prosecutor and congressional committee have peered into his life on the basis of the same statutes and processes he staunchly supports.

"For all the time we are spending on issues that are at best difficult to discuss in polite company, the debate is all but ignoring the most important of constitutional issues. Nowhere do we find questioning of the assumed power of a president to send our troops into battle, despite the Constitution's requirement that all wars be declared by Congress. It should be remembered that just a few short months ago this president ordered an unprovoked attack on the sovereign nation of Sudan in an apparent attempt to deflect attention from his domestic problems.

"Nowhere in this impeachment debate do we hear concerns about the promulgation of Executive Orders, which run contrary to our Constitution. Where is the questioning of the appropriateness of increasing numbers of executive-branch employees being allowed to bear weapons in their daily work? Why do so few seem concerned about a president who, it appears, traded military technology with the communist Chinese for campaign donations? Or who improperly accessed hundreds of confidential FBI files for partisan purposes?

"With neither pleasure nor vindictiveness, I will cast my votes in favor of each of the Articles of Impeachment, for I have regretfully come to the conclusion that President Clinton must be impeached by the House, and removed from office by the Senate. The Rule of Law demands that presidents abide by the same legal codes as the people; obstructions of justice and abuses of power cannot be tolerated, even in the most minute of cases. I am sorry these Articles will not include the far more serious abuses of which many presidents have been guilty. Of course, such action would require a deep commitment to our Constitution and it's requirement for a limited, non-intrusive federal government. Sadly, though, that is a commitment few in Congress wish to make."

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