I’m a Democrat. But sometimes I shudder.

I wish, for instance, that Republicans have been the ones sounding the alarm of climate change, with Democrats the deniers.

Could there be a worse way to generate alarm than to refer to an impending global disaster as “global warming” evoking feelings of comfort and coziness? Only marginally better has been “climate change,” which is at best, and worst, value neutral. “Atmospheric carbon poisoning” or “catastrophic climate change” or “the Venus syndrome” would have served better, but I’m a Democrat, so I’m sure there is something more compelling.

Most recently with the impeachment effort, Donald Trump quickly framed the issue as to whether or not he had engaged in quid pro quo. The Democrats adopted this label and have tried, pretty successfully, to demonstrate that there was quid pro quo.

Shrug.

Are we accusing Trump of speaking Latin? Or even with the English translation, the accusation of having engaged in “this for that” does not sound impeachable, nor even particularly outrageous.

And yet, what took place was outrageous and is impeachable. Trump sought to coerce a fledgling democracy, an ally struggling against an aggressive Russia, to announce an investigation into a political rival before releasing military aid already approved by Congress. Not just “this for that,” more than “abuse of power,” this was extortion. But I’m a Democrat.

Beyond extortion, it subverted the stated policy and the best interests of the United States. Congressional Republicans, if tables were turned, would have called it “treason.”

Fred Wolff

Cumberland

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