Just the other day I heard one of President Clinton's toughest critics, U.S. Rep. William Delahunt of Massachusetts, propose a censure for President Clinton in light of the recent impeachment proceedings.

You may remember Delahunt as one of the first Democrats to ask for the president's resignation. Now he wants to censure the president. And his resolution calls for a censure with no provision for any other punishment. The rationale is that the president - if he in fact committed felonies - would be punished enough by the legal system after he leaves office. This, of course, assumes that the president would be indicted and convicted without being pardoned first. I suppose that could happen. And I suppose Chinese paratroopers could descend upon me as I am typing this.

Just this past week, 20 Republican members of the House of Representatives came forward with a proposal for censure and a big fine.

It's amazing.

The one thing that has really struck me as unusual throughout this entire impeachment process is the metamorphosis of our elected leaders.

I have watched many of them change from the protectorates of the "rule of law" and "our system of justice" to "well, let's just put this thing behind us." At the outset they were empowered, bold and brazen. Now they just want it to go away.

I don't know whether perjury was a high crime or misdemeanor in the eyes of the founding fathers. My guess would be any crime that would land me in the slammer would be at least a high misdemeanor. But that's just my guess. What do I know? I'm just a dumb Hoosier.

But does that really matter anyway?

There are plenty of people whose lives really took a turn for the worse after being convicted of perjury and they weren't elected to be leaders of the free world, either.

Some of the people I talk to think since this is the president we're dealing with, he should get a pass. After all, if we mess with him, it could affect all of us. If we mess with him too much, it might even screw up the economy or something.

I tend to have the opposite view. I think elected officials should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us - or at the very least the same standard as the rest of us.

And do we really want a president who lies under oath?

I guess so. At least the polls show we do. And the polls seem to be the most important thing to consider in this issue.

No one - except for people who don't know the definition of the word "alone" - really believes that the president told the truth in the civil case or to the grand jury.

But at the same time they apparently think perjury isn't that big a deal. I suppose these are the same people who tell pollsters they don't really trust the president and don't consider him a moral person or a person of character. Then they give him a 65 percent approval rating.

The polls recently have shown most people think the Republicans in Congress are being unfair to the president. And the election bore that out. The Republicans, expecting gains in Congress, actually lost seats.

It was historic.

This taught them a valuable lesson. (Actually, it didn't teach them. They've known this for a long time.) Pack your principles at the door, stick your finger in the political wind and do whatever it takes to get back in the good graces of the voters.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle, the Democrats are saying the American people have spoken. Americans don't think perjury is all that bad and we should leave the president alone.

All because of the polls - and the election, of course.

Isn't it nice to see our elected officials so utterly responsive to our needs?

I like that idea. Governing by polls.

In fact, why not pass legislation that says we determine public policy by the latest Gallup poll? No deviations. No hedges. Straight up. What the American people say is what we do.

Let's take a poll on abortion. Most people in the country oppose abortion on demand.

How about lower taxes? Most people would favor lower taxes.

Fewer government programs? The majority would be for that, too.

Prayer in schools? Oh yeah, there's a winner by a landslide.

School choice? I'll bet that would pass in the polls if you asked the question just right.

Foreign aid? Big loser - keep that money at home.

How about term limits? Passed.

Campaign finance reform? Done deal.

Use Social Security funds only for Social Security? You bet.

Keep that budget balanced with no more deficit spending - ever - even if the economy goes bad? Rubber stamp.

More gun laws and erosion of second amendment rights? Probably not.

Blow Saddam Hussein's country off the map? What are we waiting for?

Immigration? Affirmative action? Education? Trade?

Wow, I'm really starting to like this policy-by-the-polls idea.

Isn't it ironic? All along our elected leaders have been telling us they know what's best for us. They know what programs we need. They are better at spending our money than we are. They enact myriad programs and collect more taxes. If we protest, we are simply the unenlightened and our wishes are largely ignored.

But on the issue of this president and his perjury problems, we the people have spoken. We are the experts. Our word is law and our leaders scramble to accommodate us.

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