I am an independent. Here is my impression of the impeachment hearings.
The impeachment hearings remind me of a saying I once heard that there is a very fine line between genius and insanity. I am reminded of an episode of the “Twilight Zone” starring Dick York where his fate was temporarily determined by a coin toss where, by a freak chance, the coin happened to land on its edge rather than a heads or tails. While the coin was on its edge this man experienced Twilight Zone-like events. Eventually, after several hours, the coin fell over from its edge and the character’s life became normal again. The Republicans see the coin on its edge and say it’s a “heads” while the Democrats see the same thing and call it a “tails.” To be more precise, this is more like a flipped coin that is spinning around on its edge and has yet to fall one way or the other — but eventually will — probably. As an independent, what I see is an incredible amount of spinning going on — on both sides.
I am also reminded of a scene from the movie “Planet of the Apes” where Charlton Heston realizes that the planet he has landed on is being run by a baboon hierarchy. In distress Heston cries out: “It’s a madhouse. A madhouse!” More accurately we may be watching “Planet of the Apes” morphing into the “Titanic” movie with all of the upper deck people demanding a privileged spot in the line for the life rafts while the lower class people on the lower decks are fighting to stay above water and have any hope for a life raft. Meanwhile those who should be trying to mitigate the catastrophe are spending their time trying to rearrange the chairs on the deck. Too bad it is the baboon hierarchy of politicians and power brokers (both Democrats and Republicans) that are running the show.
Reid Swenson
Salt Lake City