“Tom Railsback supports impeachment.”
My mother said those words quietly with a bit of wonderment. I was in fourth grade sitting crossed-legged on the floor staring at the Magnavox and watching the news.
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“Tom Railsback supports impeachment.”
My mother said those words quietly with a bit of wonderment. I was in fourth grade sitting crossed-legged on the floor staring at the Magnavox and watching the news.
The House Judiciary Committee was voting on articles of impeachment. And Railsback, a Republican from Moline, voted in support.
My folks weren’t political people. They voted and usually supported Republicans. But occasionally they would support a good Democrat.
That said, they liked Richard Nixon and adored his vice president Spiro Agnew. And they admired the administration’s Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz.
In my father’s eyes the three were a political holy trinity. Dad, always said he voted for Nixon in 1960 because he knew how to work and his wealthy opponent John F. Kennedy never had to.
When I was in second grade, my mother sent me to school with a giant Nixon campaign poster to hang on the classroom bulletin board.
Yes, we were a Nixon family.
When Democrats criticized Nixon, they brushed it off as partisan rhetoric.
But when Railsback, our local congressman, started raising concerns, they listened. After all, how often does a member of Congress call for impeaching a president of the same party?
Nixon had campaigned for Railsback and the president had remained popular in the rural western Illinois district even as the Watergate scandal heated up.
When politicians act against their political self-interest, as Railsback did, take notice. It is not a common occurrence. When it happens, we are watching statesmen emerge.
I was thinking about Railsback this past week when I saw the House once again begin an impeachment investigation. And there weren’t many Railsback-types speaking out.