Whether President Clinton is guilty or not, he should NOT resign. Whether Congress is right or not, they SHOULD try him.

Have I gone nuts?! No. Here's why:

If Clinton resigns, he'll be the second president in a quarter century who's left office under a cloud of impeachment. It's getting pretty darned easy for Congress to remove a president. Instead, Clinton should make them fight for a conviction. He should force them to sweat and suffer if they want to remove him. Otherwise the system of "checks and balances" breaks down, and pretty soon a president would have to go to Congress for permission to act. "Get me the House Speaker on the line." "Sorry, Mister President, he's not taking your calls until next week. At that time he'll give you instructions on what you should do next." Sound like a good thing to you?

Meanwhile, Congress - or at least the Republican conference - has a bone to pick with a president who may well have lied under oath. Hey, that could be impeachable: after all, the president is sworn to uphold, not degrade, our laws. Then again, maybe it's NOT a high crime or misdemeanor: this was his private life (he didn't spy for Russia or anything), and it's hard to make a perjury case stick in court. Still, it's Congress' job to make a president - and future presidents, if they're listening - squirm for playing fast-and-loose with the rules. Else who's to stop the prez when he or she is tempted by the Dark Side? Even if they don't convict, they'd knock him back a peg. A nice, blistering Senate trial can do that to a person.

In short, Congress should pay a price if it wants to remove a president, and the president should pay a price if he gets squirrely. The whole process looks like a train wreck, but in fact it's the way things were designed. It ain't pretty, but it works.

Franklin said the Founding Fathers gave us a republic "if you can keep it." Let's keep it. Let the process unfold. Let both sides take the heat. I can take it. In fact, so can you. Just relax, turn on the TV, pop a tab, sit back, and watch the hearings. It'll be great theatre!

"I think a bigger and more disturbing issue is the ignorance and misunderstanding and complacency of the average American. Maybe selfishness and even guilt discribes 'us' better. Selfishness because we only care if it affects us personally: are my stocks going up, is my job secure, can I take my vacation, is my new car shiny?? And guilt because the largest voting block - the 'baby boomers' - are looking over their shoulders. Having grown up through the protests, drugs, free sex and sexual revolution of the 60's and 70's, very few have not done exactly what Clinton has done. Hence, they can't convict him without convicting themselves!" Hubie Rosch, business owner, M&M purveyor

"[A] radically right wing Republican congress has ended a nearly five-year-long witch hunt dominated by a faction filled with Klansmen, bribe solicitors, and adulterers who couldn't get Clinton for a real crime so they manufactured a 'crime' for him to be guilty of so they could impeach him. Sounds just a bit like the Inquisition panel that could only convict Joan of Arc (not that Clinton is any saint) of the crime of wearing men's clothing and used this as a pretext for burning her." Joe Carson, teacher

"Yes, it is true that the system should play out its due process such as it is, but I personally cannot stomach all of the frenzied broo-ha-ha of prurient interest that is the fuel that keeps this fire burning." Elizabeth Bloombaum, counselor, excellent dancer