Dear Representative

Dear Representative Graves:

I'm JF, a constituent of yours here in Baton Rouge. I write to register my support for the articles of impeachment currently moving through the House Judiciary Committee.

A quick perusal of your website does not yield any information about your stance about impeachment. I assume, however, that like most Republicans you lean toward voting down the articles.

I don't know the extent to which your eventual vote on this issue will stem from a personal conviction (you sincerely oppose impeachment) versus a political calculation (it would be political suicide for you to vote for impeachment). Thus, I'm not sure what kind of argument, if any, you or your staff would find persuasive.

To be frank, I don't have a lot of hope in writing this note.

Polarization around this issue, as around so many others, makes rational discussion of this issue seem impossible. The question seems instead to boil down to pure tribalism: whose side are you on? Reds or blues? This fundamental question, this basic animosity, seems to determine all other political actions and interactions. Blues like me in districts with red-leaning politicians wonder whether our representatives truly represent us, just as I know reds who live in blue districts do. I don't know how a democracy functions with such mutual distrust.

It seems plain that the President has at least attempted to use the power of his office to benefit his personal political interests. It likewise seems incontestable that he has flatly refused to cooperate with House inquiries into this attempt by ignoring subpoenas and using lawsuits as delaying tactics.

I would like to think that, were the President a Democrat, I would support the House taking steps to hold him accountable for these same actions.

I don't know, though. That's a high ethical bar to hurdle, to move against the political fortunes of my own party. It might be that in such a hypothetical reality I would fall back on rationales that preserve my sense of integrity while letting my President's unethical acts slide. I'm only human, as motivated by tribalism as anyone.

Challenged to hold a Democratic President accountable, I might complain about the process, pointing to longstanding and vocal anti-President sentiment by many in the opposing party. I might insist that we must wait until the next election. I could equivocate about whether the President can be held accountable for a manipulation attempt that did not succeed. Perhaps I would argue against all evidence that the President was merely interested in combating Ukrainian corruption generally rather than targeting his primary opponent specifically. Most cynically, I could just declare that using the Presidency to advance personal interests over national interests is something everyone does now. "Just get over it."

Or if all else fails, I might concede that, yeah, the President's attempt was problematic, but it doesn't justify impeachment.

In that hypothetical scenario, though, I would be stuck with an uncomfortable question: would I be OK if the other team's President did exactly what my own did? I would not. I am not.

The only hope I have in writing you, Representative Graves, lies your own basic answer to that ethical question: would you be perfectly OK with the President's actions if they had been committed by a President Clinton or a President Obama? Failing to hold the President accountable now all but guarantees that the next administration--Republican, Democrat, or otherwise--will have carte blanche to maneuver against their personal opponents in whatever way they wish while simply ignoring Congressional checks and balances.

I hope you will vote to support impeachment. But beyond hope, I recognize my duty to communicate my convictions to you. President Trump has committed impeachable offenses. It is Congress's job to function as a check and balance. I hope you will do so.

Sincerely,

JF