All I Really Need to Know About Politics I Learned During Bill Clinton’s Impeachment

I grew up in the 90’s.  When Bill Clinton was getting impeached in 1998, I was a sophomore at a Christian college and I was just starting to pay attention to politics.   

I’ve gone to church regularly my whole life and I’ve been baptized. I’m the member of a church.  I’m an Evangelical Christian.    

As I grew up in the church and studied at a Christian college, I was exposed to some ideas on how to think about politics.  Many discussions took place.  What should Christians expect from their government leaders?  What do Christians owe to their government?  How should a Christian approach a career in politics?  What should the separation of church and state look like in practice?  To what extent should your faith inform how you carry out your job?  

The impeachment of Bill Clinton was at the epicenter of all the political discussion at that time.  Bill Clinton was considered a case study on what not to do.  He was a clear-cut example of a man in leadership who had lost his way.  He had squandered his authority.  No one could respect him anymore, so Congress had to impeach him.  

No, he was not completely evil.  No one was saying that his political ideas were all “bad,” it’s just that he messed up, he became a negative role model, he tarnished the image of our country by his poor behavior.  And that’s all too much.  Sorry, Bill.

The final word on the whole thing was the Starr Report.  When it came out one Sunday, printed as a special section in the newspaper… whoa!  That was some heavy stuff.  Our leader did that?  Our leader said that?  With his intern?  He bought her that?  And then did that on it?  

Some of my most formative years were tied together with the Clinton impeachment saga.  Through church, school, friends, and family, I came away with some definite lessons ingrained about our country’s elected leaders-- who they should be and how they should behave.  

Here are seven of the most enduring lessons I learned at that time.  I am listing each lesson, followed by direct quotes, absolutely 100 percent verbatim, from discussions I had at church, at school, at home, and with friends back in the 90’s.

Lesson 1. Leaders must have strong moral character.

Morals.  Don’t leave home without them.  How can we trust our leaders to uphold the laws of the land if they don’t have strong moral fiber?  

For one, they should always tell the truth.  Clinton lied!  He said he “didn’t have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky,” when in fact—well, he didn’t actually have sex with her.  But the things he did with her were highly sexual in nature!  We might as well say that those count as “sexual relations,” right?  Which he said he “didn’t have” with Miss Lewinsky.  Clinton lied!  It’s a moral failure.

Leaders should be frugal.  Frugality is a virtue.  Clinton got haircuts* from a fancy-schmancy hairdresser who charged upwards of $200 for a simple stinkin’ haircut!  And he got his hair cut while onboard Air Force One!

That’s too much money for a haircut!  And that’s making a huge mess on our country’s nice clean airplane!  

When will our leaders ever get it?  We can’t trust them if they can’t be frugal like the rest of us.  

[*The haircut thing wasn’t part of the impeachment, but I remember it was talked about quite a bit.]

Lesson 2. Leaders must not engage in sketchy financial transactions.

The Whitewater land deal-- what was that all about?  Apparently, the Clintons owned some land in Arkansas, and then they sold it.  Or they didn’t own it, then they bought it.  Either way, it ended up being a pretty sweet deal for them.  

Any sweet financial deal involving a person in political office reeks of a possible quid pro quo.  Any time a politician is making money on some side deal, it should be looked into.  Bring it out into the light of day, for heaven’s sake!  Bring Ken Starr in here and get the investigation going!  

Congress is obligated to spend years, if necessary, looking into any and all sketchy financial transactions that our leaders engage in.

Lesson 3. Leaders must obey the Ten Commandments.

No adultery.  No lying. Those are two of the big ones.  Clinton broke them both.  That’s a double whammy!  If you double whammy any of the Ten Commandments, that should be an automatic impeachment trigger.  Book it.

Lesson 4. Leaders must be aware of the example they are setting for the nation’s children.

What will the children do when they find out our leader told a big, fat lie?  Surely, they’ll all begin to lie as well, for no apparent reason other than to emulate the example of our leader.  

What about extra-marital sex?  The young people will be having sex willy-nilly outside of marriage, now that our leader is found to have done it.  Never mind the fact that dozens of people in the Bible committed adultery. At least some of them were punished for it!  If our president does it and doesn’t get punished for it, everyone, especially the young people, will blindly follow suit.  

We can’t let our young people fall into that trap!  Punish the wrongdoer and perhaps the young people will be deterred!

Lesson 5. Leaders must not harass women.

Clarence Thomas was a close call.  It really sounded like he harassed [pronounced “hair-essed”] Anita Hill when they worked together.  That wasn’t good.  But Clarence Thomas denied it all, so perhaps he’s truly innocent.  

Clinton, though?  Look what he did to that poor intern, Monica Lewinsky.  And Paula Jones.  And Gennifer Flowers.  And he admitted a lot of it!  

Anyone who harasses women is not fit to be a leader.  Unless they completely deny it!

Lesson 6. Leaders who violate the above-stated rules should have their dirty laundry aired out publicly, in granular detail.

Let’s talk about the Starr Report once more.  The Gap dress.  The semen stain.  The cigars. “It tastes good.”  Who went down on whom?  Who liked it?  Where was it? How long did it take?  How many times did it happen?

Hey, we the public need to know these things!  We need to know what our leaders are up to!  If they said and did these things, even in the context of their private lives, they have to own it.  And we have a right to know about it.  

Lesson 7. Leaders are not above the law. They work for us, not vice versa!

Sure, we chose them to lead, but they are running the government to serve us, the people of this nation.  If our leaders mess up, it’s our prerogative under the Constitution to have them removed.

Elections matter, but nothing is final.  Sometimes our country is better served if we take out a malignant tumor, rather than letting it grow and fester and infect our government and our country further.

I learned a lot about politics during the Bill Clinton impeachment. I’m not saying I ever agreed 100 percent with these seven rules.  I’m not saying I ever disagreed 100 percent with these seven rules.  These are simply the lessons that I was taught.  These are the points I heard hammered on over and over again.  

One other lesson I was taught, and that I do believe in 100 percent, is that truth is truth.  It lasts forever.  It does not change.  It’s consistent.

When I hear Christians speak out about any given issue, I look for consistency.  If a Christian is speaking the truth, then that truth should never change.

Christians should be consistent.  If something is right, then stick with it.  If you change your mind, then let us know why.  Fill us in on the Biblical rationale that led you to change your mind.

From Bill Clinton’s impeachment until now, though, not many Christians have remained consistent in regard to politics.  The past few years, I’ve noticed the support many Christians have voiced for Trump.  I’ve noticed the silence of many Christians in regard to the scandals of Trump.  Having grown up in the 90’s, it feels like I’m living in the Twilight Zone.

Some prominent Christians have spoken out and remained consistent with the 90’s-era ideals I listed above—Beth Moore, Russell Moore, Jim Wallis—they all have held firm to their belief that our leaders should show strong moral character, and they’ve been vocal about it.  

Then you’ve got the inconsistent ones-- the Christian leaders who called for moral leadership in the 90’s, but who pulled the plug on that idea by unflaggingly supporting this president.  Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell Jr., James Dobson—they are heavy hitters and they all publicly support Trump.  

Why isn’t it a longer list of Christian leaders who have spoken out about Trump?  I keep waiting for the silence to be broken.  Each scandal that comes out leaves me wondering, is this the scandal that will cause Christians to turn on Trump and finally speak out?  Is this the one that will cause Christians to join together, like they did against Clinton, and condemn his leadership?

Isn’t anything going to put Christians over the edge?  Kids in cages?  The “shithole” comment?  The slashed number of refugees who are allowed into the country each year?  The warm words about Nazis who marched in Charlottesville? The rollbacks of environmental protections?  Continuing support for the war in Yemen?  The self-dealing (the Secret Service is racking up quite a hotel bill at Mar A Lago, for example)?  The blatant disregard for the emoluments clause?  Trump University?  The embrace of foreign dictators who have well-known track records for abusing human rights?  Siding with the statements of those dictators over the statements of our own intelligence officials?  The failure to act quickly to safeguard the integrity of our election systems for 2020? The bullying?  The paranoia?  The payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal?  The breaking of campaign finance laws, for which his personal attorney is serving three years in prison?  The raft of associates from his campaign and cabinet who are in jail, have been in jail, or have pled guilty to crimes related to the campaign?  The Trump Foundation, which the government has now shut down for its illegal activities?  The Trump Tower meeting with the Russians?  The call for the Russians to hack Hillary Clinton’s email?  Dangling presidential pardons in exchange for favors? The firing of James Comey after he failed to pledge “loyalty?”  The order for Don McGahn to reverse-engineer a paper trail, which would demonstrate a false reason why Trump was going to fire Mueller (McGahn refused to do this)? What about the lies?  The thousands of lies?  

I know I left out quite a few scandals.  The point is, when is enough going to be enough?  During the time of Bill Clinton, I heard so many Christians opining about the importance of strong, moral leadership.  Now, it’s crickets.  

That’s inconsistent.  That’s hypocritical.  

In the 90’s, you heard people say that Bill Clinton squandered his authority. He tarnished our country’s image. 

What about now?  It seems to me that by being inconsistent, we Christians are living a lie.  As a result, we are squandering our own authority.  We are tarnishing our own image.  And we are tarnishing the image of Christ himself.      

It’s time for the action plan.  

[An action plan, you’re wondering?  In case you haven’t noticed, this blog post is structured like a sermon that I’m used to hearing.  It has a catchy title and it starts out with some attention-grabbing material.  In the middle, it lays out an argument, citing chapter and verse.  You don’t get to go home and eat your pot roast, though, until you get some sobering reflections at the end.]  

So, how can Christians turn it around?  Here are seven steps to take.

1.  Pray for Trump.  Also, pray for the kids in cages.  Pray for the immigrants and refugees.  Choose any marginalized group or individual and pray for them.

2.  Start speaking out against Trump.  Acknowledge the obvious.  He is not the leader our country needs.  Be specific about why a Christian should reject him as our leader.  Be prepared for the consequences that will come with speaking out against Trump.  

3.  Join a cause. Reach out to a group of people who are being ostracized in the age of Trump.  Your options are many.  

4.  Get behind a presidential candidate who you think would be better than Trump.  Do your research, then consider donating time and/or money to help that candidate.  You have options both Democrat and Republican.  It’s not too late for a Republican to challenge Trump for the 2020 Republican nomination.    

5.  Run for local office.  So much change in our country is starting at the state and local level right now.  It’s a great time to get involved.

6.  Read your Bible.  Does your life reflect the example of Christ?  (Cheat sheet: Christ urged compassion for the poor, the sick, the immigrant, the handicapped, the prisoner, and women.)  There’s a lot more besides that in the Bible, as well, so please read it.

7.  If you still support Trump, do us all a favor and speak up.  Explain to people why you support him and his policies.  Be specific.  If you were anti-Clinton in the 90’s and pro-Trump now, enlighten us as to why that’s the case.  Is there a Biblical rationale as to why?  If it’s simply because Trump is anti-abortion, please explain how Trump resigning and Pence moving into his place will hurt the anti-abortion cause.

This has been my sermon.  You may now go eat your pot roast.