Mike Pence: The President's repeated lies to the American people are grounds for impeachment [View all]

[Miles Archer]

(CNN)Vice President Mike Pence once argued the president of the United States should be held to the highest moral standards to determine whether he should resign or be removed from office.

Pence made the argument in two columns in the late 1990s, where he wrote that then-President Bill Clinton's admission of an affair with a White House intern and prior lies to the public about the matter, possibly under oath, meant Clinton should be removed from office.

Yet Pence also moved beyond the specifics of the Clinton case: He made a far-reaching argument about the importance of morality and integrity to the office of the presidency.

Pence wrote the columns in the late 1990s when he was a local Indiana radio host and prominent conservative voice in the state arguing Clinton had lost his moral authority to lead the country. One of the columns, "The Two Schools of Thought on Clinton," was posted on his now-defunct website for his radio talk show. Another column, "Why Clinton Must Resign or Be Impeached," was posted on his congressional campaign website. Both columns were archived by the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. The columns ran in various Indiana newspapers at the time but did not get national attention.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/06/politics/kfile-mike-pence-moral-columns/index.html

http://web.archive.org/web/20010306205858fw_/http:/www.cybertext.net/pence/pres.html

Further, the Presidents repeated lies to the American people in this matter compound the case against him as they demonstrate his failure to protect the institution of the presidency as the 'inspiring supreme symbol of all that is highest in our American ideals'. Leaders affect the lives of families far beyond their own 'private life'. In the Bible story of Esther we are told of a king who was charged to put right his own household because there would be "no end of disrespect and discord" among the families of the kingdom if he failed to do so. In a day when reckless extramarital sexual activity is manifesting itself in our staggering rates of illegitimacy and divorce, now more than ever, America needs to be able to look to her First Family as role models of all that we have been and can be again.

The challenge for the Republican Congress lies in the fact that the polls may be right. The American people may deeply wish to move on and put this unpleasantness behind us. Regrettably, the Constitution does not permit such a national denial. If the President does not resign, the Republican Congress must impeach him even if it costs them their majority because the laws of this republic charge them with the duty to so act. Absent an uncharacteristic act of selflessness by the President, it is left to the Republicans to live up to their label and defend the laws and institutions of this Republic. If our leaders flinch at this responsibility, they would do well to heed the Proverb "if a ruler listens to lies, all his officials become wicked". Our leaders must either act to restore the luster and dignity of the institution of the Presidency or we can be certain that this is only the beginning of an even more difficult time for our land. For the nation to move on, the President must move out.