Until this century, there had been only two presidential impeachments — Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 — both unjustified and driven by extreme political animus.
That only two of America’s first 44 presidents had suffered this fate is a remarkable tribute to the overall health and stability of the republic, which has been a beacon to the world and a platform for unparalleled opportunity and prosperity for nearly a quarter of a millennium.
Now as we observe the brutal cage match that is Washington politics today, we see the likelihood that the country may have to endure yet a third impeachment process in less than four years.
Increasingly, fewer Americans blame our metastasizing political crisis on the “other party” and instead view “both parties” as culpable. A recent Pew Research Center survey found a rare congruence in that 87% of Republicans and 85% of Democrats agree that both parties “are more focused on fighting each other than solving problems.”
Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) described the syndrome of collective despair as “a sickness unto death.” Comparisons to the anguish of the American people when contemplating the future of their democracy are not inapt.
So, what is to be done? Does history offer any guidance that suggests a resolution to this American Dream-turned-American Dilemma, or shine a light on pathways that might deliver us from an impending national nightmare?
It has been said that elections are a democracy’s “safety valve,” but when the country faces a truly dire emergency, only certain kinds of elections qualify. Outcomes that produce razor-thin majorities or disputed results are of no use and invariably make things worse, not better — as will the likely rematch of Joe Biden and Donald Trump in 2024.
The only kind of election that offers the country any genuine hope of salvation is a historic landslide.
When Franklin Roosevelt won in a landslide in 1932, he received from the American people — mired in the Great Depression, with its 25% unemployment rate — an unambiguous verdict rejecting the past and embracing a new vision they believed would lead to a better future.
When Ronald Reagan won in a landslide in 1980, he received from the American people — plagued by the gaping wounds of the Vietnam War, Watergate, American hostages in Iran, and a reeling economy — an unambiguous verdict rejecting the past and embracing a new vision they believed would lead to a better future.
Though the administrations of both of these presidents were not without strife or controversy, the American people reaffirmed their mandates by re-electing them in even bigger landslides. In both instances, the nation turned a historic page and began a new era.
In today’s political environment, a landslide election in 2024 is highly improbable — though not impossible. It would require a credible and charismatic new candidate who persuasively advocates for dramatic changes in three key policy areas.
The first policy move would be reversing the Biden administration’s war on energy, America’s most important industry. For America to go forward with a long-term goal of eliminating oil, gas, nuclear and coal — and the millions of jobs depending on them — while betting the country’s future on wind farms, solar panels and electric vehicles, is an irrational ideologically-driven defiance of reality and most people know it.
The second would be decisively ending the catastrophic situation with a surge of migrants at our southern border and replacing it with a humane, but strictly enforced, immigration policy based on the rule of law and the principle of national sovereignty. The preconditions for this would require a definitive securing of the border, through greatly expanded federal manpower and appropriate wall-building, but most importantly, the strong leadership of a president backed by a huge electoral mandate.
And the third policy move, finally, would be ending America’s no-longer-tenable role as world policeman and its attendant burden of lengthy wars that have alienated much of the world, divided our own people, and undermined our political and economic stability while pursuing distant missions that are increasingly unexplainable and seemingly without limits.
Most political commentators would agree that a strong candidate who resolutely puts forth these policies could command wide support among significant elements of a weary and anxious electorate. However, there is virtually no agreement on who this mysterious president-in-waiting might be, or what extraordinary circumstances would be required for such a person to win a viable nomination for the highest office in the land.
Yet, implausible such a scenario might be, in these tempestuous times we should not underestimate the power of our people’s yearning for an outcome that could bind up the nation’s wounds and make our country whole again.
William Moloney is a senior fellow at Colorado Christian University’s Centennial Institute who studied history and politics at Oxford and the University of London and received his Doctorate at Harvard University.