November 1998
by Ryan Lee Stollar
As Starr presents his evidence to the Congress, and Clinton's attorneys prepare their defense, the American people are waiting for the verdict. But you know what? They shouldn't have to wait. It should be obvious that our President has lied to his fellow countryman, and no longer deserves the position of the "American leader."
A leader is someone who should be an example; someone to look up to. He should be your guiding light, someone you can try to be like and imitate. This requires that a leader must be guided by moral principles, and strives for excellence of duty, and truth and honesty. The Bible clearly labels those who do not toil hard to fulfill these standards as "fools," not "leaders." Proverbs 11:3, 5 and 6 say: "The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful with destroy them. The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way aright, but the wicked will fall by his own wickedness. The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the unfaithful will be caught by their own lusts."
This is exactly what is happening with Clinton- "the unfaithful will be caught by their own lusts." President Clinton's downfall as a leader came from his own lusts. He had a sexual relationship with a woman he was not married with, and also committed adultery. The Bible clearly states that this is a horrendous sin, and in Bible times you would be stoned to death for that.
President Clinton has bee trapped; trapped by himself. It was his sin and his lust that caused his capture. Proverbs 6:32 says that "whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; he who does so destroys his own soul." Clinton has basically committed "moral suicide." He has destroyed his integrity through his own actions.
He knows this. He is frightened that he is caught, and most of all, he is shamed. As Proverbs 11:2 proclaims, "when pride comes, then comes shame." He has prideful, and abused many freedoms he has. Too prideful, actually. He thought he could never get caught, but he did, and now he is paying the consequence.
So, should he be impeached? Well, to start with, he should some way or other get out of the office of President. The United States president is supposed to an example of American morality and honesty, that is great responsibility that he has failed. America can forgive and forget, but you shouldn1t get away without punishment. Proverbs 10: 17 explicitly mentions this: "He who keeps instruction is in the way of life, but he who refuses correction goes astray." Clinton is so corrupted because he never has been corrected in the past regarding other sinful actions even when he was Governor. Correction brings about change, no correction brings about no change.
When he was Governor, Clinton said this regarding former President Nixon: "The president has lied to the American people, he should resign." Well, the now-President Clinton has lied to the American people, why isn't he resigning? Why aren1t the Congressmen impeaching him? The evidence has been given, in fact, 34 boxes to be exact. According to the New York Times: "The report Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr sent to Congress Thursday lays out detailed evidence that prosecutors contend shows 11 impeachable offense by President Clinton. The offenses include perjury, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and abuse of power.2 That is more than enough to impeach our President. He has disgraced the role of President, and has cheated and abused his power.
Regarding whether or not we should care about his private life, even Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut, said that a President's private life, because he is elected by the people, is a public life. He stated this on the Senate floor on Thursday: "To begin with, I must respectfully disagree with the President's contention that his relationship with Monica Lewinsky and the way in which he misled us about it is nobody's business but his family's and that even Presidents have private lives, as he said. Whether he or we think it fair or not, the reality is in 1998 that a President's private life is public. The President is not just the elected leader of our country. He is, as Presidential scholar Clinton Rossiter observed, and I quote, 'the one-man distillation of the American people' and, as President Taft said at another time, the personal embodiment and representative of their dignity and majesty. So when his personal conduct is embarrassing, it is sadly so not just for him and his family, it is embarrassing for all of us as Americans. The President is a role model and, because of his prominence and the moral authority that emanates from his office, sets standards of behavior for the people he serves."
President William Jefferson Clinton is not an example of morality and leadership, he is an example of disgracefulness and foolishness.
Ryan Lee Stollar is the President of the Center for American Freedom.
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