Theodore R. Davis’s illustration of President Johnson’s impeachment trial in the Senate, published in Harper’s Weekly. (from here)

As the picture above reminds us, we have been through this before. After the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, President Andrew Johnson proved to be a disappointing replacement. So Republicans, solidly in the majority, contrived charges against Johnson so they could replace him.

What about now? Here (speaker.gov) is a copy of a memo Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent her caucus. It includes these words:

The facts are uncontested: that the President abused his power for his own personal, political benefit, at the expense of our national security interests.

The weak response to these hearings has been, “Let the election decide.”  That dangerous position only adds to the urgency of our action, because the President is jeopardizing the integrity of the 2020 elections. (from here (speaker.gov))

President Donald Trump responded to Pelosi, and he did what he usually does when he is attacked. He tweeted:

Of course, the usual suspects called Trump a liar, again. This article, Nancy Pelosi Is Already Attacking the Legitimacy of the 2020 Election (nationalreview.com), refutes that silliness and focuses on the real issue.

What is just as relevant as Pelosi’s memo is how  Hillary Clinton responded after her last debate with Trump.

Buoyant after wrapping up the third and final presidential debate, Hillary Clinton stepped onto her campaign plane late Wednesday night and continued to hammer Donald Trump for suggesting he might not accept the result of November’s election.

“It was horrifying what he said,” Clinton told reporters, referring to her Republican opponent’s remark that he would keep the American public “in suspense” about whether he would question the outcome of a race that he says is rigged. “we are a country based on laws. And we’ve had hot, contested elections going back to the very beginning, but one of our hallmarks has always been that we accept the outcomes of our elections.” (from here (time.com))

Have Democrats accepted the election of President Donald Trump as president? No? Do Democrats have good reasons for trying to overturn the results? Well, Republicans don’t think so. Why has determining who runs our “government” become a frustrating source of unending contention? Look at the power we now give our government.

• Look at our paychecks. What is our biggest expense? Taxes, and the government starts getting its cut before we even see our check.
• Look at who educates our children? Don’t civil servants spend hours every day with our children? Don’t elected officials choose our children’s curriculum and teachers? Is it farfetched to say that the government has a wildly disproportionate say in what our children believe and value?
• Look at who imposes their beliefs and values upon whom. Do we the People still impose our beliefs and values on our government, or is it the other way around?
• Look at our Constitution. Are our leaders only doing what the Constitution says that they can do, or are they doing whatever they can get away with?
• Look at us. Do we know how to participate in our constitutional republic? Are we being good and responsible citizens? Are we voting that way?

We get the government we deserve. When our government becomes a dangerous embarrassment, ripped apart by factional politics, we need to consider our own performance first. Our leaders work for us. If our leaders are doing a rotten job, we did a rotten job of choosing them.

Are you a Christian? The Bible has much to say about government. Did Jesus set up some kind of theocracy for us? No, but He did tell us to love each other, not to lord over each other. Hence, when our nation’s founders designed a new government, they designed a limited government with the goal of protecting each other’s God given rights. As Christians, we have an obligation to protect the God given rights of our fellow citizens. Have we been doing that? No? Then we need to get to it while we still can.