Republicans are obstructing justice and must be held accountable for lack of Constitutional accountability

Echo opinion letter published in The Washington Post:

Checks and Balances in American government protected in the Constitution.

(In my opinion, when Republicans obstruct justice for the purpose of political posturing, they are wrong, and must be held accountable for undermining the Constitutional's strict provision for checks and balances between the three powers of American government.)

Danielle Allen's call to “Stand and deliver, senators” [op-ed, Dec. 2] in the face of the impeachment proceedings against President Trump and his abuse of power is correct! She rightly urged a restoration of electoral and institutional integrity.
(Allen's lead was Full Stop right on!) "At the end of this impeachment process, whatever its outcome, Americans will need one thing: reason to have faith in the integrity of the 2020 election. Restoring that faith for Americans of all political persuasions should be the supreme goal of every step taken from this point forward by members of the House and Senate."
Nevertheless, in calling for an end to demonization of one’s political opponents, she made a blatantly false equivalency between Republican and Democratic responsibility for the great divide separating patriotic Americans on what constitutes fairness. 

Ever since Republican then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) initiated his scorched-earth tactics and aggressively applied them to politicking in Congress in the 1990s, Republicans have reveled in keeping Democrats on the defensive and in undercutting any effort for fact-based truth and objectivity, including the tea party’s vitriolic attacks on all things Democratic thereafter.

In the impeachment process thus far, Democrats appeal to and defend traditional constitutional norms while Donald Trump and his cult minions rely on lies, specious arguments and character assassination.

I direct Ms. Allen’s heartfelt call primarily to Republicans in Congress and ask them to do their constitutional duty to defend the principle of checks and balances and that no one, not even the president, is above the law. To bend to the president’s intimidation of those who dare to oppose him and blindly condone his crass abuse of the Constitution is to besmirch the norms of U.S. history and the Founding Fathers’ protections against tyranny.
Richard L. McCloud, from Fredericksburg, Va.