Phil Forve: Put country before party

About the writer: McMinnville resident Phil Forve, holder of a degree in international economics from the University of California at Davis, spent 41 years in agriculture and food production with Cargill before retiring as a vice president. He continues to serve as a consultant to corporate executives.

In August 1974, Americans were shocked as they heard a recording of President Richard Nixon in which he admitted his complicity in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal — a bungled burglary of the Democratic National Headquarters office at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C.. during the 1972 Presidential election cycle that had been under investigation by Congress.

This disclosure that the sitting president would disregard the law and his oath to defend the Constitution destroyed him politically.

After the public heard the words of its president, his loyal Republican supporters in Congress could no longer defend his behavior or his presidency. They announced that they would vote to impeach and convict Nixon for his obstruction of justice.

Republican leaders subsequently met with Nixon at the White House and informed him that impeachment and conviction were all but certain outcomes, signaling the end of his time in office. Upon receiving this message, Nixon, a very proud man, gave up his year-long struggle to remain in power.

It was a terrible time for Nixon, but a proud day for Republican leadership, which stood up to its elected leader in defense of our democracy. It was an act of courage that put country before party, ensuring American values prevailed.

Fast forward to today, when we have a president who says he does not believe he needs to follow the Constitution despite, like all former Presidents, having sworn an oath “to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

He says that he is above the law. Meanwhile, he is openly breaking the law and defying the federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States.

Republican leaders need once again to put the country before their party. They need to emulate profiles in courage from 1974 and inform the president they will not defend him — that they will impeach and convict him for his actions in violation of his oath of office.

We cannot accept and tolerate a four-year term of lawless presidency.

Write your Republican leaders. Tell them it is time to stand up for America.