A few months ago I had an opportunity to have breakfast with Representative Johnson, newly elected to congress for southeastern Ohio. It was a small group setting with six other people and provided a good opportunity to get to know the Congressman and his ideas for his district and the nation.

While he and I are politically poles apart, I found him to be witty, engaging and charismatic. All in all Bill Johnson was an impressive and capable man starting a new career in public service.

So when I received a robo call this past Wednesday to participate in an online town hall meeting conducted by Representative Johnson I was eager to participate.

The call began with a question asking for participants to vote whether they agreed with, and I am paraphrasing here, President Obama’s $500 Billion cuts to Medicare.

As participants responded through their phones Congressman Johnson explained that his topic in this meeting was his commitment to support Medicare.

The Congressman updated us during the conference that fully 90 percent of respondents opposed the Obama cuts to Medicare. Johnson said he opposed those cuts as well, and would do all within his power to protect Medicare.

Two of the first three participants to ask questions of the congressman then asked Johnson why Republicans were not acting to Impeach President Obama for his criminal, communist, socialist actions as President.

I found Representative Johnson’s answers to both Obama Medicare cuts and the callers request for Presidential Impeachment to be troubling.

I think we can all understand the pressures in Washington to convey a “party line” in the political issues of the day, but I also have eternal hope that new congress people will resist the temptations to offer politically expedient answers when candid responses are what voters deserve.

As it turns out Congressman Johnson voted for and continues to support the Ryan Plan for the federal budget. That plan retains the $500 Billion in Medicare spending cuts from the Affordable Care Act, the very same money Ryan said he opposes as part of what he calls Obamacare.

Further, the Ryan plan the Congressman supports “saves” Medicare by freezing the federal portion of Medicare into vouchers, a plan that the CBO estimates would increase the cost of Medicare recipients from the current 20 percent of costs to 68 percent of costs by 2030.

This form of “saving” Medicare is not so much different from ending Medicare effectively if not literally, by transferring an unaffordable burden to our seniors.

On the questions of Impeachment the Congressman acknowledged that Obama had done a great deal wrong, but Impeachment took a very long time and he thought the ballot box might be quicker to end Obama’s influence and power.

But was that really a responsible answer to such questions? As a member of government shouldn’t Johnson have explained that in America we do not Impeach Presidents because we disagree with their policies?

What we do is vote our consciences and then accept the outcomes as the democratic process.

This is not to lecture those who care but disagree, but to explain how government actually works.

Otherwise the effect is to justify, by silence, the kind of misinformation that divides Americans when we need to be united.

I still believe Congressman Johnson has a great deal to offer his constituents, but I strongly encourage him and hope that he will find directness to be his best political gift.

If he earnestly believes the only way to save Medicare is to greatly diminish its effectiveness, then that is a judgment voters need to hear.

Jim Crawford is a retired educator and political enthusiast living here in the Tri-State.