Maya Mandel Prac. 1 – Impeachment

This clip is a vox pop conducted in 2017 by the late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where they ask random people on the street if Hillary Clinton should be impeached, even though she lost the 2016 presidential election. One can identify several points in that video that relates to the American political culture – defined as shared ideas, values, and beliefs that define the role and limitations of government and people’s relationship to that government […]. First, the impeachment of a President is a case in point of the political culture because we can see that the relationship between the citizen and the government is failing in that they don’t trust it anymore and want to limit it. We can see that at minute 1:30, someone says that Hillary needs to be impeached for her “numerous lies to the public”. The American political system is renowned for its separation of power and its checks and balance principle. The impeachment is a great demonstration of those principles because the legislative and judiciary branch can challenge the executive branch if they believe it’s getting too powerful. As mentioned in the Constitution, the House of Representatives has the sole power to impeach and remove the President. It is also interesting to see how at minute 2:15, the man says the infamous “We the People” phrase from the Constitution, which marks the fact that American citizens, living in a democracy, have a lot of power over the government. A little after that, at minute 2:55, the interviewer asks a series of questions, to find out which one is the greatest threat to the United States. It is fascinating to see how the woman responds to those questions because they are issues that divide American citizens despite their common culture. Hillary Clinton is compared to the environmental crisis and the gun-control question. For example, the woman is asked: Is climate change a bigger threat to the U.S. than Hillary Clinton? And she responds: Yes, she is. Some might agree or disagree with her, but those different beliefs are what determine the trust granted to the government and thus, the American political culture. Overall, this video also shows the vast cleavage between democrats and republicans, a key aspect of the U.S. political culture when Jimmy Kimmel introduces the video by talking about Trump’s administration desire to investigate on Hillary Clinton.

Five discussion questions:

1. In the Constitution, Section 4 of the First Article, says that the President, Vice President, and all Civil Officers of the U.S shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. According to you, what does “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” mean?
2. Do you think the reasons that are given by the people interviewed for Hillary’s impeachment are justifiable, and why?
3. At minute 1:35, when asked what types of crimes would you include in the articles of impeachment, why do you think the man said, “if there was a Benedict Arnold law it would be her”? What is the link between Benedict Arnold and Hillary Clinton?
4. During the Constitutional Convention in 1787, some spokesmen wanted the President impeachable for maladministration, whereas others believed that crimes like corruption should be the reason. Where would you stand in this debate? Do you think that crimes play on the political administration part? There have already been cases of impeachment in the United States history, can you name one President and explain if the crimes reported were altering the political administration?
5. How is this video a great example of portraying the typical American citizen?

I think that this assignment is a great idea, and you should use it again in the future. For visual learners, the incorporation of a video is a good plus. Furthermore, I feel like schoolwork ties in with a lot of readings in books, so to switch it up sometimes and learn with videos is great, and the fact that they are short can help people who have a low attention span.