This is one progressive who is not calling for the president’s head on a platter. Not yet … and perhaps not ever.

I have my reasons.

First of all, we got what a lot of us said we wanted – a businessman who would run the country like a business. Problem is, we failed to read the fine print. There are different kinds of businessmen. This one was the CEO of a closely held family enterprise. He had no board of directors or stockholders to whom he was responsible. In all things, what he wanted was the beginning and end of the story.

No one should be surprised that he is running his administration in the same manner. No one should be surprised that the short-term results have been chaotic, because even presidents don’t get everything they want. Perhaps the man has the intellectual flexibility to learn from his mistakes. There is little evidence of this, but, nevertheless, he is entitled to a reasonable “breaking in” period.

Which leads to the second reason, the 63 million Americans who voted for radical change. A shakeup in the status quo. A disruption in the force. A draining of the swamp.

They were promised that the “forgotten people” would be forgotten no longer.

The president’s words, not mine.

According to polls and mainstream media reports, most of those folks think he is doing just fine. What I just characterized as chaos, they would point to as evidence that the shakeup that was advertised is taking place as promised. I might not agree with that assessment, but I must admit that such an alternate view exists.

This being the case, what would happen if the president were driven from office? Sixty-three million Americans would scream that their election had been stolen by those same nebulous “elites” who have, in their opinion, been ignoring them, and their priorities, for literally generations.

The country is split into warring camps as it is. We don’t need to exacerbate an already volatile situation.

The better course may be to let things play out.

If the president can deliver on his promises, good. If not, well, that is a conclusion his supporters will have to come to for themselves, because so far no amount of evidence to the contrary seems to shake their belief in their champion, even if he is a flawed champion, arguably undeserving of the support and loyalty gifted to him by his base.

A third reason is the Russian connection.

The possibility that a foreign country conspired to affect the outcome of the 2016 election is too serious to leave to partisan political wrangling. It is of critical importance that the evidence be followed to its conclusion in a non-partisan manner by properly trained professionals having bipartisan support.

The goal should not be to replay the 2016 election. That one is in the books. The goal should be to make sure the results of the elections to be held in 2018, 2020, and beyond, are accepted as being legitimate beyond any reasonable doubt.

If, in the course of that investigation, evidence of collusion or coordination between the president’s campaign, or people connected to the campaign, and a foreign government is uncovered, those involved should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We would want it to serve as a warning to anyone who might be tempted to take advantage of offers of outside “help” in the future – because such offers will always be there if the potential exists to disrupt our form of government.

After Watergate, 40 members of the Nixon Administration were either indicted or jailed. If warranted, the current investigation should be equally robust. If necessary, another tower bearing the president’s name can be dedicated within the confines of a suitable federal penitentiary to hold those found guilty of subverting our democracy.

I sincerely hope the president is not personally implicated in any of this, or that what he has done to date falls short of offenses for which he could be impeached and convicted.

Which brings me to my final reason.

The president of the United States does not operate in a vacuum. There are two other branches designed to check and balance the executive branch. If they do their job, and that is a significant “if,” they should be able to checkmate any heavy-handed excesses promoted by the current executive.

Should they fail to meet their constitutional duties until there is no choice remaining but to impeach, convict, and remove the incumbent, standing in the wings is the vice president, and he is a different proposition entirely.

Our vice president has assumed the role of a political bobble head, dutifully nodding agreement with whatever emanates from the president’s mouth. When not doing that, he is seen hovering in the background like a sommelier anxiously waiting to see if the wine is acceptable.

The rest of the country may not know him well, but Hoosiers should.

Whatever you say about the current president, one thing he is not is an ideologue. He appears to operate transaction by transaction, or deal by deal, without any underlying, unifying philosophy.

The vice president is the exact opposite. He is a proud member of the Elmer Gantry wing of the Republican Party. He has proven himself more than willing to blur the line between church and state in order to achieve political gain. He is much more attuned to the priorities of the one percent than to the rest of us. His social conservative based views on matters such as women’s issues, immigration, gender issues, public health, public schools, among others, are outside of the American political mainstream.

He has had his eyes on the presidency for years.

While the current president is about as subtle as a bull in a china shop, the vice president is as smooth as silk. While the current president has problems with Congress, the vice president is of Congress.

In terms of who can advance a national agenda more concerned with numbers than people, the already wealthy over the squeezed middle class, or the people still forgotten, there is no contest.

The current president may occasionally appear clueless, but the vice president is always on message, and for ordinary Americans, that message spells danger.

Which is why this progressive is not calling for the president’s head on a platter. Not yet … and perhaps not ever.