I agree. Impeachment is not enough. But surely it is a good beginning? Your post is dead-on, in my opinion, in terms of direction, and ideal. I agree wholeheartedly that Impeachment is only a first step, if we are truly to become a righteous nation of humans. I call for Impeachment not because of the implications you state, though. Only because it is redress for the crimes Bush has undertaken. And to tell you the truth, it is not even redress. Only trials could begin to address his wrongs. As important as a vision of what is really wrong, though, I wonder what you see as the practical component to your battle cry. Because I feel that a practical part is very important for people. Ideal for the heart; Action for the bones and muscles and belly. Thank you for the energy and message.

by Nezua (42 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 93 comments) on Tuesday, May 2, 2006 at 2:00:19 PM

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Is it a dream? Judge: You are Smith of Wisconsin and you plead guilty, right? Smith: Absolutely, Your Honor. Guilty as sin on all counts. Judge: What terrorist organization did you belong, you said? Al- Qaeda, Al- Jasiri or Al… what? Smith. Al-SomethingMoslem, Your Honor. It is the most dangerous organization and I feel a very sincere remorse that per their orders I was born in the US and lived here awaiting to strike until I was apprehended. Judge: You are one of those Semen Sleepers, right? Smith; Yes, Your Honor. Semen, that’s the word. Judge: That’s a terrible crime, my son. But considering your confession and cooperation I am here sentencing you to 10 years of hard labor in Abu- Ghreib, where our allies will take care of you. Smith; God Bless America. I thank this merciful court and my President. The dialogue above will soon take place in the courts of the US. It certainly took place before, only the names of the dangerous organizations were different. In the Soviet Union it was Al -SomethingForeign , in the Nazi Germany it was Al-NonGerman, during the McCarthy hearings it was Al -SomethingCommunist, whatever. We are coming closer and closer to it, but as soon as we understand what awaits us under the shadow of the Pretzel- in- Chief, we need to understand how we can prevent it. That is if that’s not too late. The US is a country of Hope. That is every time darkness crept over, the forces of light immediately emerged and took care of things. It is also a dynamic place; that is the exchange processes so far were relatively short and relatively painless. But every time it happened from the times of Thomas Jefferson until now the stakes were growing steadily. If the darkness takes over now and we have a Perpetual W. (War) in the White House and Perpetual S. ( Sellouts) in the Capitol Building, we will all go straight to Hell on Earth. What forces are still here to turn the tide? 1. The Renewed Democratic Party. The election of Howard Dean as a DNC Chairman is a great sign. That means that the pro- Bushist traitors like Kerry, Lieberman, Clinton had stopped their destructive work for a while. Maybe they are gloating, maybe they are celebrating, whatever. The best way now should be to ‘weed the garden’ in the Dems domain. The party has to announce that the democracy in this country is in danger from within. It has to put out an agenda with the top priority to return the country to the rule of Democratic, Constitutional Principles and openly proclaim that the current governmental institutions are taken over by a cult (per the brilliant definition of Seymour Hersh). The party has to take over all the funding, including the individual campaign funds and use those for the party purposes only. The party has to propose the formation of the People’s Alliance For the National Revival uniting all the forces of opposition. The Alliance has to be open for all (see below) except for the open and covert Bushists, the ones that support the policy of the current administration in any aspect. It has to be openly proclaimed that no compromise with the Bushists on any political issue is sought. The Bushists are leading the country to a disaster and the Alliance is to be formed to stop them for good. 2. Those opposition forces include: o AFL- CIO The labor organizations in the US are the natural allies in the struggle for revival. The Bush’s policy is anti- American in general and anti- labor in particular. Labor unions must receive help from the Dems first and foremost. That must include the commitment to the cause; both political influence and money of the Dems are to be in full availability to the Labor Unions, all of them. In return the Labor Unions are to be invited to the People’s Alliance and be able to come up with the candidates (per regions) from their ranks to Congress and whenever, no matter whether they are members of the Dem. Party or not. They will be the candidates of the Alliance. The party has to proceed immediately in courts and legislatures to open the procedural ways for candidates from the Alliance to be registered and put on the ballot. It has to start a political campaign from all podiums, including the loyal media (yes, loyal, the one owned by sympathetic business). The international ties of the trade- unions are the most valuable asset here and have to be expanded and supported. The new initiatives to cover foreign workers in the US companies under the trade- union umbrella are terrific and are to be praised by every (I mean every) Democratic functionary. o NAACP and any other African- American Anti- Bush organization. Here the Dems better start with an apology. Their betrayal of the black cause is notorious. The Democratic Party under Howard Dean’s leadership has to openly proclaim its unequivocal support of the black constituents. It has to announce that black organizations are welcome to come up with their set of candidates if they join the Alliance and those candidates do not have to be the members of the Party. The new campaign has to be under the slogan,’ One person- one vote of conscience’. All black organizations are to be involved in the debate on the National Revival with the real guarantees for the Black population on the table including, but not limited to strengthening of the affirmative action. o Progressive Business. The Bush’s policy is bad for business. It undermines the consumer base and essentially drives the middle class to poverty. Many business people understand that. They also get menacing messages from abroad. Our country’s currency has no base. If the Banks of China and Russia stop supporting us by buying our IOUs, we will go bankrupt. The Alliance must come out to the businessmen with the message of ‘ Business for Peace and Profit’. The Trade Unions are to pursue their members to give concessions to those businesses which will commit to the cause. At the same time the Dems are to pursue the European and Asian politicians to convince their businesses to give preferences to the members of the Business for Peace movement. Come on, people! Bush openly lets the War Business to reap the profits from his endeavors; why wouldn’t Business for Peace do the same and take advantage of the situation? It is important, though that National Industry is to be a priority. That means that the US business people who will join the Alliance, would be invited to either come up with their own candidates or their lobbyists should be given a preferential treatment after victory. The Alliance has to establish the Business Council, whose purpose would be to come up with the long- term economic strategy after the Alliance wins the elections. That council should also manage the Alliance’s money, donations and all. o Constituents for Common Sense . The Alliance has to invite into its ranks all the liberal (ACLU), progressive, American conservatives (the Buchanan people) socialist and Church for Peace organizations. It has to ignite the campaign all over the country. It has to be very active on local levels, under the “ EEH’ (Environment, Education, Healthcare) umbrella. ALL local elections are to be campaigned only under these issues. The Constituents on the global scale are to be presented with the perspectives on what will happen if the country goes down the tubes under W. The Alliance must unequivocally demand to return our troops to the US soil. It has to organize and maintain a permanent debate on the issues of religion and state in the media and on the open forums. It has to support and promote the progressive think tanks. It has to invite into its ranks all feminist, lesbian and gay groups. The door has to be open for anyone. One of the first and the most important goals of the Alliance must be a moratorium on the Constitution changes. The Constitution is sacred and cannot be touched. So is the Bill of Rights. o The young people. The Alliance must invite all the young people into its ranks. It is in their interest. The young generation is the one targeted by Bushists for elimination in the perpetual wars. It is also targeted for dissociation due to the ‘ ownership’ society. The primary problems of the youth, that is the healthcare and affordable education are discarded to say the least. On the contrary, the administration is interested in producing poor young people for the Army. The Alliance must open its subdivisions on every campus. It has to organize rallies for the High School kids. It has to put its volunteers in front of every military recruitment place, discouraging the kids from joining the army and offering the alternative. That alternative has to be jobs with the ‘Business for Peace’. That alternative has to be the mandatory health insurance for all people. The Alliance has to spend money on the young people, lots of money. It has to seek donors everywhere. It also has to offer internships for the young people of all colors, here and abroad with the organizations that support and finance the Alliance. Bottom line- all young people of all classes, origins and religions are to vote for the Alliance in the next elections. That has to be the goal. o The remaining honest Capitol people. The Alliance is to advise all the honest people on the Capitol Hill that the new organization is to be announced and that it invites all the members of Congress who feel they are fed up with Bush to join its ranks. The Alliance has to promise that from now on they, the members of Congress will be absolutely free to vote their conscience, provided they do their job in forming and explaining to the Alliance members and constituents that they formed a conscious opinion based on facts. It warns that if the opinion is not formed and explained, any vote by such person would be considered frivolous. The duty of the Representative of the People is to be outlined as first and foremost to honor the position by working hard and thinking hard. In fact, no congressperson would be able to vote for anything before he or she explains his or her position to the constituents. After the explanation and defending of the position in the open forum in front of the constituents the appropriate vote should be cast in good faith. There mustn’t be even one case when the Capitol Hill person votes without reading a Bill in full, without the debate, also by coercion or any other means. o Professional Organizations. From the BAR to the ASME, the current administration is the bitter enemy of the professionals. That is primarily due to shrinking of opportunities. There is less and less work for an honest professional, fewer ways to sustain the one’s life. Thus they are to be invited to join the Alliance. The Alliance is to proclaim, ’The next administration will be the professional one!’ The Alliance is to pay lavishly to the professionals for their help to show the total incompetence and malice of the current administration. It should seek the candidates among the professionals for the Alliance management, leadership and future candidates for Congress and Senate. Scientists and engineers are to be sought for the political think tanks. Bottom line, the Democratic Party has to unite all the forces opposed to Bush. In the process, the new organization will be born. All of that has to be done now, so that the first candidates of the Alliance come out in full swing in 2006. If the Democratic Party adopts at least a part of the agenda above, there is a chance for us to live in the US we all love and cherish, a chance for our children also. If not, we most certainly will not live up to reach the golden years. As for our children, I am afraid even to imagine what will happen to them if nothing is done now. Will it be done, who knows?

by Mark Sashine (72 articles, 19 quicklinks, 269 diaries, 4101 comments [131 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, May 2, 2006 at 3:27:13 PM

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From Andrew Bard Schmookler, the author of the piece, responding to jrh, who suggests the impeachment option belongs on the table as "a good beginning": In suggesting that “impeachment is not the appropriate rallying cry for this vital struggle,” because it does not hit the nail on the head, I am NOT opposing impeachment. What I am trying to do is to provide a larger and deeper framing within which such other elements might be placed. The rallying cry –Fighting for the Soul of Our Country– is intended to put, front and center, what I believe is that central head of the nail. Since New Years, I’ve been posting a series of pieces that attempt to point the way for the struggle to proceed. (This series began with my two S.O.S. (Save Our System) pieces, which proposed that the legal/constitutional battleground is the optimal place to bring the struggle to a head, and proceeded through my writings about a Congressional resolution repudiating the administrations bogus constitutional arguments and about the Feingold censure resolution, and continued up to last week’s suggestion that the campaign simplify the apparently MANY Bushite scandals into the single scandal of their MORAL BANKRUPTCY. And now I’ve proposed a “Battle Cry.”) I am not certain exactly how this works, but I do not believe that I’m inclined to take back any of those earlier statements. I still believe that the legal/constitutional battleground is the place where the actual battle should be waged, which could include the resolution of repudiation of pseudo-constitutional justifications, and/or censure, and or impeachment. I still believe that the simplification into the one overarching scandal would be an effective way to clarify the picture for Americans. And I also think the “battle cry” about saving America’s soul could resonate. Just how all these pieces are best fit together I’m not certain. But I don’t see any reason to suppose that they are not capable of being integrated into a coherent approach. As for where and when and how the issue of impeachment should become a central focus, I’m not sure. I do believe that there are steps along the way, since it seems quite uncertain that the American people are yet ready to respond positively to that dramatic and powerful step. It would probably be best to proceed in a way whose initial stages bring the attention of the American people to the crimes and lies of the regime, without evoking so much reflexive resistance. Once the majority of Americans are led to experience the fear and disgust and outrage that beholding the conduct of this administration should evoke, then the path toward impeachment should be far more open.

by Andrew Bard Schmookler (360 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 215 comments [2 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 at 2:57:16 PM

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