June 17, 2007
by John Sebastian
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's attempt to lead Congress' effort to convince George W. Bush that he is totally incompetent and is damaging our world has failed. The Speaker's position is similar to that of the Colonialists when they were petitioning King George III and his Court in the 1700's for their freedoms.
Speaker Pelosi's two-prong plan was: to reform government - and impeachment was off the table.
But it was only a plan - it has accomplished none of its major goals - and the general welfare of our country continues to worsen. The plan is a bust. The plan needs revision. And September is too long to wait while Congress shadow-boxes with a president who is chasing ghosts. People are being murdered every day because of decisions made by George W. Bush and approved by Congress. This must stop now!
Why would the Speaker of the House of Representatives ever announce that "impeachment is off the table"? By making this statement, the Honorable Representative from the 8th District of San Francisco, California has torn Article II, Section 4 out of our Constitution - set it on fire - and thrown it in a trash can. That is treason, and treason is an impeachable offense. We already have one branch of government trashing the Constitution - we don't need another one. Impeachment is the only Constitutional tool we have to remove "all civil Officers of the United States" from office - not just Presidents and Vice-presidents.
Speaker Pelosi's tunnel-visioned approach of continuing down a dead-end road that gets narrower and darker by the day is not helping our country.
Our country is in a political black hole - where up is down, right is left, the truth is a lie, and tyranny rules. This is not what the authors of our Constitution intended. In fact, they provided a specific remedy in the Constitution for occurrences such as the one our country is experiencing today. They included it because they knew a secure future could not be insured for their posterity without providing specific protections. They understood human nature well enough to understand that the behavior of King George III was not a unique aberration. Throughout history, there have been men with similarly twisted minds who have ascended to positions of power. There needed to be an absolute check on absolute power. That check is "impeachment".
Our government has become a contest between an incompetent and obstinate President and a Congress that is satisfied with changing nothing - no matter how bad things gets - no matter how many people die - no matter how much tax money is wasted on wars - no matter how many of our civil rights and freedoms are violated - no matter what. Speaker Pelosi, the U.S. Congress, and the Executive branch of our government have pressed the mute button on the voices of the American people. The Government of the United States is neither listening to nor responding to the will of the American people. Our government is a damaged political institution, and it needs our help to get back on track.
The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were written because the authors were living under the fist of a despotic government - and they found it annoying. They started the Revolutionary War to eliminate the violations of their freedoms and civil rights by an oppressive government. If the authors did not believe impeachment might be necessary some day, they would not have included it in the Constitution.
Madam Speaker: the day the authors suspected might come is today.
The 110th Congress tried to bring reason, purpose, and sanity to the uncivil conduct of George W. Bush. But since he was appointed to the Office of the President by the U.S. Supreme Court in December, 2000, there has been no Congressional oversight - no checks or balances - no accountability for all the damage that George W. Bush has caused throughout the world. If the American People let George W. Bush get away with what he has done to our country and the world, then what message will this send to the current bunch of warmongers running for the Office of the President? Without a change in course, the condition of our country will get worse.
The lack of Congressional oversight was the choice of the Republican Party between 2002 and 2006 because both Houses of Congress and the Executive branch were controlled by Republicans between 2002 and 2006. The damage that this lack of oversight has caused to our country and to the world is obvious.
Congressional oversight has been in the headlines for the past six months because both Houses of Congress have had a Democratic majority since January 3, 2007. But with the exception of non-binding resolutions - which themselves are regularly undermined by the Republican minority - and "threats" to issue subpoenas to key Executive branch Officials by Committees from both Houses of Congress - nothing has changed. And nothing is going to change until the elected officials making and supporting the decision to kill people for oil are impeached by the House, tried and convicted in the Senate - and then tried in criminal Courts for "crimes against humanity". And if they are found guilty in the criminal Courts, they should be sentenced with the harshest possible consequences.
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Our country's Founders were specific about how unsuitable elected officials were to be removed from office. In Article II, Section 4 of our Constitution they wrote, "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." The word "shall" was chosen to indicate that when impeachment was warranted, it was not an option "not to impeach". And what would be a "high crime" if murder is not?
Before assuming their official duties, Members of Congress take the following oath: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.;"
The Constitution states in Article VI, clause 3 that, "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution;."
The words ".shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution;." mean that once a government official has taken his oath of office, he is obliged to, "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic".
Checks and balances are useless if they are not used. If Speaker Pelosi will not change her position on impeachment - she should be impeached for violating her oath of office.
The President and his men are a clear and present danger to the safety and future of our country - and the longer they stay in office, the more damage they will do. They are incapable of changing their behavior - and to allow them to continue to violate the Constitution and ignore our freedoms is dangerous and wrong. Despots never change their behavior. They find power too intoxicating. For them, power is an addiction. For them, self-restraint is not possible.
The President is behaving like a little boy with a pocketful of firecrackers. He ain't gonna' stop playin' with them - until they're all gone - or someone takes them away from him. That's your job Madam Speaker. And it's not an optional part.
If Speaker Pelosi is not preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution, then she is violating it.
Impeachment is the first of two stages in the specific process for a legislative body to remove an elected government official without that official's agreement. The second stage is conviction.
How powerful is impeachment in stopping Presidents from continuing to lie - and in forcing them to reveal what they are lying about? In 1974, President Richard M. Nixon resigned following "a committee vote" to approve impeachment proceedings so he could avoid "the presentation of Impeachment Articles" before the full House.
What were the charges against President Nixon?
On Saturday, July 27, 1974 the House Judiciary Committee approved its first article of impeachment charging President Nixon with obstruction of justice. Six of the Committee's 17 Republicans joined all 21 Democrats in voting for the article. The following Monday the Committee approved its second article charging Nixon with abuse of power. The next day, the third and final article, contempt of Congress, was approved.
Special Prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, who had been appointed by the Justice Department, pursued Nixon's tapes all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. On July 24, the Court unanimously ruled that Nixon had to surrender the tapes.
To avoid handing over all of the 42 subpoenaed tapes to the House Judiciary Committee, the President had instead released 1,254 pages of edited transcripts of 20 tapes in the spring of 1974.
The tapes had become the focus of an intensive year-long legal battle between all three branches of the U.S. government. In October of 1973, Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, who had been appointed by the Nixon administration, publicly vowed to obtain the tapes despite Nixon's strong objections.
This resulted in the "Saturday Night Massacre" on October 20 in which Nixon attempted to fire Cox, but was temporarily thwarted as Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus refused Nixon's order and instead resigned. Solicitor General Robert Bork agreed to carry out the order and fired Cox.
"Whether ours shall continue to be a government of laws and not of men is now for Congress and ultimately the American people [to decide]," Cox stated after his firing. Ten days later, impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives began as the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Peter Rodino, started its preliminary investigation.
On August 5, the long sought after audio tapes provided the "smoking gun" which revealed President Nixon had been deeply involved in the Watergate burglary cover-up.
That revelation resulted in a complete collapse of support for Nixon in Congress. On Friday, August 9, Nixon resigned the presidency and avoided the likely prospect of losing the impeachment vote in the full House and a subsequent trial in the Senate.
Richard Nixon left office with 2 1/2 years of his second term remaining. A total of 25 officials from his administration, including four cabinet members, were eventually convicted and imprisoned for various crimes
The only difference between then and now is that then President Nixon was hiding audio tapes to hide his lies - and today George W. Bush is hiding e-mails to hide his lies. Hopefully, this leap of technology will not confuse the Supreme Court Justices when they argue the Constitutional difference between information recorded on magnetic tape verses that recorded electronically. E-mails can be buried, but they never die. Additionally, there appears to be ample precedent to preclude a lengthy debate among the Justices on the relevant issues. The three Articles of Impeachment issued against President Nixon match the abuses of George W. Bush - "obstruction of justice"; "abuse of power"; and "Contempt of Congress".
What would have been different if President Nixon had remained in office for another 2 1/2 years - how much more damage will George W. Bush do if he is allowed to stay in office for another 1 1/2 years? What is at stake?
The future of our country - and the rule of law.
Since the "strategic surge to protect American freedoms" began in February, 2007, about 100 U.S. soldiers are being killed every month in George W. Bush's Wars - and probably ten times or more Iraqi and Afghani civilians are being slaughtered each month. By September, 2007, 200 more American soldiers will be dead. By February, 2008, the date of the Presidential primary elections, 700 more American soldiers will be dead. By November, 2008, the date of the Presidential election, 1,600 more American soldiers will be dead. By January, 2009, when our new President is sworn into office, another 1,800 more American soldiers will be dead - and possibly another 18,000 civilians. And this is if things don't get worse. None of the leading candidates from either party has gone on the record in favor of ever removing "all" U.S. military forces from Iraq and Afghanistan. Why?
Can American citizens be expected to respect the laws of our land if the President of the United States is allowed to get away with murder?
And most importantly - what message are we sending to our children by allowing this injustice to continue? What will the world be like that we are making for them? Perpetual war?
That's what some folks are banking on.
Click for Additional Reading: Pelosi, You Must be Out of Your Mind!
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John Sebastian [send him email] is a freelance writer and Constitutionalist.
