"Listen, my children, and you shall hear … "
By Kate Harrigan
I spent my Christmas holiday ushering a couple of children around Boston. We hit all the big historical sites – learned about the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, Paul Reverie’s Ride and the Shot Heard ‘Round the World.
Every evening, we returned to our hotel room where, via CNN, we watched the nation prepare for President Clinton’s trial before the U.S. Senate. The man is, according to a Dec. 31 Gallup poll, more admired than the Pope. His approval rating stood that day at 70 percent.The children asked me what impeachment means – no one has been willing to explain it to them, they complained. Then they wanted to know if all this had anything to do with the American Revolution or with Paul Revere. I bit back an, “Obviously not.” And then I decided that perhaps, in the end, it has everything to do with Sam Adams and the boys.Because the more I see of our efforts at self-governance, the more I think it’s time we invite the British back.Granted, it would be a bit awkward. I envision a joint session of Congress, Bad Boy Bill himself up front, the whole group shuffling and screwing their shiny wing-tipped toes into the carpet and mumbling, “We’re sorry about all that, about the, um, musket balls and the, umm, Declaration and everything. Really, we’re used to paying taxes now and, anyway, we don’t drink much tea any more. So will you have us back?”I realize this sounds a bit rash, but doesn’t a nice little constitutional monarchy sound lovely right about now? Think about it. A lot of those Brits are sick of the Royal Family, but we love them over here. And the supermarket tabloids could start following them around and give poor Kathie Lee Gifford a bit of a break. Perhaps, they’d even come over here to teach us all to speak in those lovey accents.Because what’s going on in Washington is inexcusable. I’m not exactly the super-patriot type – more one of those sign-wavin,’ protest-marchin’ tree-huggers who doesn’t put much faith in the system and has supported Clinton only as a lesser evil. I listened for 13 hours to the impeachment debate in the House. I listened to our elected representatives, one after another, rise and explain that they would have to vote their consciences, however painful that would be.They would put out of office a president twice elected by the same “We, the People,” who tossed the British out so many years ago. They would toss him out for crimes that constitutional scholars, kindergarten teachers, waitresses and telephone repairmen pretty much agree don’t exactly rise to the level of treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors.I listened all day at work, and by the time I hit the Tri-State I was crying for what these people are doing to this country. And if antiestablishment types like me are mad, those legislators should not so easily dismiss the mainstream. They assume the activist right wing of the Republican Party has a longer memory than the rest of us, and that while we will forget by the next election, those highly motivated and organized members of the Christian Right will not.The president’s enemies may be right. But they’ve now been waiting seven years for the American people to turn on Clinton. As each scandal surfaces, they predict his downfall. And outside the Beltway, Americans dig their heels in deeper, becoming ever more angry. The general opinion, out here in flyover territory, seems to be, “He may be a weasel, but he’s our weasel.”I’m waiting for someone to explain how the president’s actions rise to the level of matters of state – say perhaps to the level of the Iran-Contra affair. Until then, I again will try to explain impeachment to an 8-year-old who’s attempting to memorize, in its entirety, Longfellow’s tale of Paul Reverie’s ride. Perhaps we’ll discuss it over a nice cup of tea. 
