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But, while impeachment is kind of a break glass in case of emergency procedure, there's still several elements of the democratic process within it, Hermes said. It is necessary, he added, to have some means of removing a federal official before the end of their term. Hermes offers a solution to the argument that impeachment is undemocratic by pointing out the possibility of removing or changing the impeachment clause through the amendment process if people are unhappy with it.

Congress views have little to do with impeachment, Timothy Johnson, a political science and law professor, said. Members of Congress are vessels through which the Constitution acts to hold officials accountable. Its their duty, he said, to investigate if officials display signs of abuse of power. To the question of whether impeachment is democratic or undemocratic, Johnson answered, Its neither. Its actually just part of the Constitution.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, supports the impeachment inquiry. We have a constitutional duty to follow the facts, she said, and I cannot think of anything more important right now that we have to do. She calls attention to James Madisons words from the Constitutional Convention. Madison was fearful that the president might one day betray our country to a foreign power for their own gain.

This takes us back to when the Constitution was created and how it was intended to be applied. Democracy means rule by the people, according to political science professor Lisa Hilbink, whose research and teaching focus on democratization and judicial role in democracy. Hilbink pointed out its important to know who the people are and how they rule before we can define what makes a democracy.

Myers said that people often interpret democracy as whatever the majority of people voted for, and added that it is a very simplistic understanding of what it means to be a constitutional democracy.

Our democracy, Hilbink explained, was designed with the recognition that what the people of one state want may differ from what the people of another state want, and that any majority constituted at the national level should not be allowed to trample on or eliminate the rights of the minority.

This provokes the questionIs the duty of a representative to go up there and literally represent what their constituents would do, Myers said, or is the duty of the representative to exercise independent judgement and do what they think is best, or in this case what they think best fulfills the constitutional duty theyre supposed to carry out?

As has become very clear over the past several years, what keeps our democracy running smoothly are not detailed rules, Hilbink said, but rather, informal normsof honesty, respect for political rivals and opponents, and forbearance.

While the impeachment process has not changed, the society during which we apply it has. The political climate has become more polarized in recent years. Myers and Johnson both believe we cant separate political environment from impeachment attempts, which are sometimes linked to policy disagreement. During Clintons impeachment inquiry, there were 31 Democrats who voted in favor. During Trumps impeachment inquiry, one Republican spoke in favor. Today the line between Democrats and Republicans is more palpable than ever. Its rare for a politician to stray from their party, regardless of the issue. In some situations, the divide can go as far as people choosing party loyalty over listening to the facts.

Political scientists have a term that can describe the current political climate: regime cleavage. It is a divide in the population caused by disagreement over the governing systemthe constitutional democracy. What used to be arguments over partisan issues has morphed into the question of democracy itself.

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