What a week. A sad week has transpired since self-identified “patriots” stormed government buildings, vandalized property, and threatened public employees at our national capitol. Five Americans died. The news has been and continues to be overwhelming, and today members of Congress consider impeachment proceedings against President Trump.

We are, of course, only observers of this incredibly embarrassing and disheartening saga. The “average Joe” is challenged to sort through the confusion. The true patriot is the guy who closely listens and respectfully considers various viewpoints; our greatest responsibility is to discern objective factual news from inflammable bias and political rhetoric. There are many examples of our elected leaders saving face and pointing fingers. What’s needed is serious soul searching.

The overwhelming majority of voters in Daviess County voted for Donald Trump. Support for conservative values will not wane here despite the transgressions by this current face of the Republican Party. But, if blindly supporting all things Trump, have we contributed to the turmoil as enablers, tacitly approving strife which now includes the very definition of insurrection?

There are glimpses of statesmanship, perhaps best personified by Sen. Mitt Romney. Others now publicly admit mistakes in judgment, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham in reversing his position. There is solace in the decisions made thus far by Vice President Mike Pence, an honorable man who no doubt wrestles with conflicts concerning his responsibilities. Trump, on the other hand, says he is blameless. Again.

Soul searching is not just for those we’ve elected but for us all. The issue is accountability. How do we go about making offenders – all offenders, any and every offender properly identified – accountable?

As this piece is written, Presidential censure seems inadequate. Invoking the 25^th Amendment to remove Trump is expedient but unlikely. Impeachment will soon be voted upon. Criminal investigations are underway with many more arrests adding to the 70-plus already facing charges anticipated.

Legal moves leveled against President Trump are important not so much “to get” President Trump as to force our elected Congressional officeholders to show us their convictions for the record. We must know their measure of accountability. Obviously, most Americans are not in position to immediately affect what’s about to transpire. Only the officials we elect can. So, we need to know precisely what they think and how they vote … so that we’ll know what to do when these officeholders next face election. That’s how our democracy works. Votes should be taken on implementing the 25^th Amendment and impeachment if for no other reason than to help clarify things for you and me as voters.

What is clear at this juncture is the deplorable conduct of Missouri’s own Sen. Josh Hawley. His misguided challenge of the Electoral College is despicable political grandstanding. Unwilling to accept the popular vote and the rulings of various courts, Hawley maneuvered to replay his rhetoric in the court of public opinion for personal gain. Clearly, he puts his personal political ambition ahead of civic responsibilities. His mentors, financial supporters, and colleagues are offended. As voters we should be, too. What has been revealed makes him impotent to represent Missouri even if we’re dumb enough to re-elect him. Accountability matters. In a republic, we get exactly what we deserve.

Repudiating Trump does not mean abandoning conservative values. That’s what this bully has duped us into thinking. An individual’s character matters. Freedom of speech does not allow anyone to scream “Fire!” in a crowded room of people when no fire exists. This applies to you and to me and to President Trump. Nobody is above the law; ultimately, this is what accountability is all about.

Four years ago a majority of voters sent Donald Trump to the White House embracing his status as an “outsider” and enabling him to rule as a disrupter (Democrats contributed to Trump’s successful election by what they offered as our only alternative). As president, Trump consistently has disrupted the status quo even to the excess of encouraging mob assault on our national capitol. As a disrupter his tactics are as easy to understand as a schoolyard bully. Censure, the 25^th Amendment and impeachment are the means to take the bully out of the bully pulpit. But with only a week for him to remain in office, Trump apologists paint such steps as emotionally rash for punitive motives — even though catalyst for impeachment is insurrection. Is accountability relative to time frame? Is accountability a matter of convenience?

If Trump respected our country above himself, he would admit disgrace and, as President Nixon once did, simply resign. But a character like Trump only respects one thing: the Almighty Dollar. What he values most is what he’s never revealed despite historical precedence from all previously holding our nation’s highest office: transparency on personal finances. Everything Trump does is about the deal. Listen to him speak. Truth becomes relative when the measure is in dollars. Trump never considers himself as “a loser;” bullies don’t know shame or humility. It comes as no surprise he refuses to resign. History is littered with disgraced characters who somehow bully their way back into positions of power.

There are questions other than just impeachment. We should be asking how President Trump (or any President, for that matter) might legally issue a Presidential pardon for himself as he departs from office – or would even need to …and from what. How do you explain that?

We should also keep track of a defamation lawsuit filed last Friday by Dominion Voting Systems seeking $1.3 billion against an ex-Trump lawyer trashing the vote counting process. Accusations about the company’s equipment used to count votes in this past Presidential election (despite confirmations by manual recounts and unsuccessful challenges in courts) will dramatically affect the future livelihood of 300 employees. The company’s CEO says the lawsuit is not about the dollars (what individual has $1.3 billion?) but for their “day in court” — to expose the impetus of the falsehoods and how and by whom the allegations of a “rigged” election were amplified. Truth exempts no one. This is what accountability with a price tag looks like. We must keep watching to see if accountability reigns during the years of litigation to come.

Perhaps Pogo said it best. During the 1960s, “Pogo” was a popular comic strip by Walt Kelly. His characters lived, for the most part, in hollow trees amidst lushly rendered backdrops of wetlands, bayous, lagoons and backwoods. During the turmoil caused by the Vietnam War, the comic strip’s main character, Pogo, paraphrased a military dispatch famous in our navy’s history by declaring: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” How true. Even a comic strip character knows about accountability.

What’s true in our personal lives is the same truth on any scale. Character matters. Trump (meaning Trump-Hawley-Ted Cruz and others) should be held accountable along with those actually storming the steps to desecrate the capitol.

Donald Trump is not the right man to personify the conservative values our country so desperately needs to follow and preserve. There are greater men who champion conservative values to lead America. How much are we willing to overlook, explain away or excuse, enabling what transpired this week past to perhaps be repeated?