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They're part of the totally optional "checks and balances" we've depended on for 250 years or so. The Founders never thought the solution would become part of the problem, so there's a limited number of options available. Impeachment is one, but the other part of the checks and balances is Congress, which has also become part of the problem.
Depending on voluntary compliance was a noble idea in the 1700s, but it should have been codified in the federal regulations.
The framers made the dangerous presumption that everyone would act in good faith even if they disagreed. I'm actually kind of surprised there weren't more set-in-stone checks on power, given that they had just come out of a revolution where a not-insignificant proportion of the colonial population openly supported the occupying force.
Some of the founders (there were actually quite a lot of them, many with opposing views) did actually see that, and thought things should be changed every once in a while.
Unfortunately that would make it harder for power mongers to monger power. So there's rarely been limits placed on power to any lasting degree.