The Cavalier daily :: Friday, May 11, 1973 :: University of Virginia Library

Some of you are old
enough to realize it now, while
some of you younger kids
don't yet know that your
Uncle Kevin is a politician and
intends to make politics his
career.

I am writing you now
because I think someone
should let you know that
politics need not be written off
as a "dirty business." It is a
shame that the concept of
politics as a dirty business need
ever be discussed in a free
society, but it appears that the
general public is going to
remember the sordid
"Watergate" mess for a long
time, and many people are
going to point to it as proof
that politics is somehow
"dirty."

Things look bad for we
politicians right now, but I
hope they will change. I do
want you to know that to be a
politician does not require
dishonesty or sneakiness.
Unfortunately, some of the
men who have been most
successful in politics in recent
years have been dishonest and
sneaky. It is especially
unfortunate that the President
of the United States of
America, Richard M. Nixon,
has surrounded himself with
men who are crooks and
experts at dirty tricks.

Yet I ask you not to judge
other politicians – including
myself – on the basis of the
Watergate crimes. Watergate
reflects the illegal, filthy end of
the political process, but there
is also a fine, gentlemanly (and
ladylike) end of the political
process. In a sense, politicians
reflect the whole range of our
society. We have good guys and
bad guys in society, just as we
have good guys and bad guys in
politics.

In recent years, crime has
been on the upswing in our
society. It now appears that
crime has also been on the
upswing in politics. If we give
up fighting crime because it
gets worse, then we will have
surrendered to forces of
despair. The same is true of
politics: if we accept dirty
tricks and illegal acts as "just
politics," then I assert that we
have surrendered our American
heritage to the devil.

I resent what Richard
Nixon's underlings did in 1972.
They have endangered our
democratic system. They have
insulted the intelligence of
American voters. They have
lied by claiming to favor law
and order while breaking our
laws. Less ugly, but perhaps
more galling, is the fact that
they were hypocritical enough
to accuse the press of lying
when the press was telling the
truth and the White House
crooks were lying.

Yet the better side of
politics can be re-asserted if we
tackle this issue head-on. Some
people say they would rather
not know if the President knew
of the wrong-doing or the
cover-up because they are
afraid that knowing the truth
will hurt our system of
government. I think the
opposite is true: if we refuse to
face reality and deal with it, we
are asking for more
crookedness in high places.

That is why I think Richard
Nixon should be impeached if
any substantial evidence arises
showing that he knew of the
wrong-doing or the cover-up. If
he knew of either and did not
act, he was committing a
crime. Our system of
government calls for
impeachment in such
circumstances. If we fail to act,
it would be as serious to our
system as if we failed to charge
anyone else who commits
crimes.

Now, I should explain what
impeachment consists of, for
many people misunderstand
the process. An impeachment
essentially consists of a charge
against a person. Under our
system, the House of
Representatives would
"impeach" a President, and
that would be similar to his
being charged with
wrong-doing, while the Senate
would "try" the impeachment.
By a two-thirds vote of guilty,
the President could be removed
from office.

Yet we must be very
cautious about this procedure.
I am fully prepared to assume
that President Nixon is
innocent of any wrong-doing
on his own part until it is
shown otherwise, although he
has already shown extremely
bad judgment in choosing his
sides (to say the very least).

I am not prepared to ignore
any criminal acts of Nixon's, if
they are proven. It is essential
to our system that it be
properly maintained, and the
worst thing we could do would
be to allow a criminal to serve
as President of these United
States.

There you have it. As I
noted before, I am a politician.
However, I detest illegality as
well as any type of legal but
unethical conduct, and I am
not prepared to accept it
among other politicians. I truly
believe that an honest man can
– and should – be an effective
participant in our political
process. I also believe that
most politicians today are
honest.

Yet these men and women
must stand up and repudiate
the dishonest persons in the
profession if anyone wishes to
receive the trust and support of
the American public in the
future. It takes decency,
common sense, and guts to
stick to a policy of absolute
honesty.

It can be done, but the first
step requires that one clean out
one's own house. If our
national leaders allow criminal
conduct to slip by because of
the importance of its
perpetrators, we can start
writing an obituary for
America.