The Democrats were returned to power by the American people because the people demanded the ongoing criminal conduct of this administration be stopped, and that it’s resultant baseless and illegal war on Iraq be ended. But Democrats running for office engaged in a game of political brinkmanship directed from the highest levels of the Democratic Party, for perceived political gains; “Impeachment is off the table” stated Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.
The political game which has been engaged in was shrewdly designed to enable Democrats to evade their constitutional responsibilities based on a calculation that even were they to state their opposition to impeachment, it would improve their election chances. It was furthermore done so that any possible damage caused to their election chances by their refusal, would not be enough to keep the people from choosing the only alternative they had to the GOP rubber stamp and it’s accompanying abuse of power by the executive branch. It was cynical in the extreme, and the game continues to this day for the –perceived- longer range political benefit the DLC believes it can glean from allowing the Bush crime junket to continue two more years, hopefully –to them- further imploding the political viability of the GOP. It must end now: No one has the right to remove any constitutional legal process from the intrinsic right of the American people to maintain a society of laws.
That the Democrats stated “Impeachment is off the table” and can claim they did not promise to impeach Bush and Cheney, in no way excuses them from their constitutional obligation to do so now. The American people were offered a Hobsen’s choice in 2006, the nature of which -if allowed to continue- would result, and is resulting in continued and additional criminal activity by the administration. There exist too many grounds for a legitimate impeachment proceeding against Bush and Cheney than can even be reasonably listed here. Like organized crime, in the Bush administration the criminal conduct is not coincidental to the nature, it is the nature. I have no doubt a successful case against the Bush administration could be prosecuted under the RICO statute based on what’s already evident.
Bush’s so-called “signing statements” are alone worthy of causing his impeachment, for they evidence an open and willful refusal to recognize and abide in the law. They are a strict violation of the oath of office and are in fact nothing short of declarations of sedition against the Constitution and Republic. In addition to this, if falsifying intelligence, covering up exculpatory intelligence for the purposes of starting a major war with tens of thousands of American casualties, systematic kidnapping and torture in violation of international law, warrentless wiretapping, and retribution against anyone who exposes acts of high treason –Joe Wilson- which damage national security isn’t a long enough list of serious crimes to warrant impeachment, no crime or crimes committed by an executive ever will be. We are talking about the largest crimes ever committed in the name of the American people, with the most serious -national security, life and death- consequences in our history.
The Democrats must be forced to uphold the law and to act on behalf of a damaged American people. The crimes committed by this administration were not only against the international community and the laws to which it is constitutionally bound as signatories, but are high crimes against the American people collectively. The crimes were committed in our names. We are obligated to end them. There will be consequences of the highest magnitude if the Democratic majority in Congress continues to refuse to act.
The consequences of a failure to impeach an intrinsically and openly criminal administration only begins with the failure to hold the administration itself accountable for their crimes. The damage is structural and will be ongoing. The office of the Presidency itself, the Vice Presidency, indeed, the integrity of the whole of the American government is at stake. If impeachment is not undertaken, the damage done is not only a failure to hold the criminal accountable: it is to the legitimacy of the United States and it’s constitution itself, and will result in a permanent degradation of the credibility of the executive branch, both in the eyes of the American people, and equally importantly, in the international arena. It will lay the ground work for further abuses by future Presidents. Failure to hold the administration accountable for it’s criminal activity will result in generations of damage to the central legal principles of the Republic: That “we are a nation of laws and not men”.
The immediate consequences of a failure to impeach will be an executive branch who’s powers have been vastly extended beyond the Constitution and left to the next President to wield to our continued harm. There will be a correctly made assumption by the international community that the United States can never be trusted again to abide in it’s own stated principles in accordance with the rule of law. Abuses of power will inevitably continue under the next administration, whether it is Republican or Democrat. As was said of Nixon’s abuses –which pale in comparison- “there is a cancer on the Presidency”. The current cancer will remain and it will grow unless excised. The previous 230 years of carefully constitutionally balanced government powers which have been so severely unbalanced will remain unrestored and our Republican form of government will have been left for dead. The destruction of the Republic through this devaluation of the rule of law will inevitably continue unless Congress is forced to act now to right it.
Failure to impeach, in light of crimes against the Republic of the magnitude we’ve witnessed, also becomes more than a mere failure at some point; it also becomes an additional crime against the people and the Constitution. It is clearly being generated by what can only be seen as political corruption by Democrats who value increased political power more than the Constitution and the country. Their continued refusal to uphold the law is now becoming constitutionally criminal itself. Any Prosecutor who refuses to prosecute for a perceived increase in personal power or political gain is rightly labeled criminally corrupt himself. Impeachment must neither be an opportunity nor a privilege in a situation like this; it’s the legal obligation of duly elected representatives to end a criminal assault on the American people and their government. Neither the Democratic party or it’s leadership had or has any right to refuse to undertake the impeachment of this President, least of all to preserve perceived political gains.
The American people need to rise up and demand the Democratic party act: They must subpoena George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and other high officials and place them under oath in public hearings regarding the lies and falsified intelligence upon which they plunged this nation into a ruinous and lethal war. If they fail to act now, the American people, and Democrats in particular must in no way support the continuation of Democrats in power in 2008. As Americans, we can not afford that any President is placed into the office in it’s now constitutionally decimated condition; impeachment must be undertaken to restore the balance of powers and credibility of the United States, both abroad, and with it’s own people. The time is short and the Democratic majority have an absolute legal obligation to act now to protect us from further executive tyranny and high crimes.
The leadership of the Democratic party must be made to know that their craven and fundamentally corrupt current political calculation can and will be made to backfire if they do not change course now. I for one, will hold my representatives accountable for what’s now clearly amounting to their aiding and abetting an ongoing criminal conspiracy; Jay Inslee and Patty Murray: You’d better stop impeding the lawful removal of this administration now or be ready to clean out your offices in 2008. I will not support you under any circumstances if this continues: I will consider it criminal. To the reader, You should to.
Jay Esbe is a writer with a background in cultural anthropology and comparative religion and lives in Seattle Washington.
Thanks for a powerfully written article that goes to the heart of the matter in full awareness of the gravity of the situation.
living abroad and having left the US since 1998, I keep wondering why many US citizens have been so passive and accepting of the neo-dictatorship progressively instaured by the Bush administration.
Comparisons with the Third Reich are cliche but they inevitably come to mind.
In the case of nazi Germany, lots of historians have analyzed in detail the many reasons for the susceptibilty of German masses to nazi ideology.
The situation in the US is very different and it's hard to fathom how the long democratic past of a prosperous nation could be almost cancelled in a few years.
Do you know of any book or articles dealing with this topic?
Sincerely,
mft
by
francine (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 332 comments)
on Wednesday, March 7, 2007 at 10:52:19 AM
I agree entirely. If we faced the facts of the situation
(something that's not easy or pleasant to do), we're close to the point where the American people would be morally justified in abolishing their current government & instituting a new one. Though daunting, this is not as "radical" as it sounds; it's written right in the Declaration of Independence in the 4th sentence.
The only way that the political system can act to redeem itself from the viewpoint of the population is if the Bush administration is impeached. A refusal to do that on the part of the national Democratic Party leaves only the option of attempting to bring an impeachment resolution via the state legislatures -- which the Dems can also block.
If the Dems block that avenue too, the situation becomes basically "the people" being left absolutely powerless, while the corrupt government ("bipartisan," let's not forget) openly becomes an unopposed, unopposable tyranny.
That's where we are.
by
Richard Mynick (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1168 comments)
on Wednesday, March 7, 2007 at 11:59:56 AM
what they have done to the Nation, and its people and reputation in the world may well be beyond salvation--as you describe irreputable damage. But I don't think it is "off the table" from the Democrats because they can't draw up the resolutions and charges...but because in the Constitutional scheme, they don't have the votes. The Framers of course knew that "men were no angels, and that somewhere along the lines of succession in the Presidency, one would annoint themselves with kingly powers-- which is the basis that impeachment be...But it requires a 'supermajority" of the Senate...and we have a Senate that in holding of party lines cannot but make a simple majority...With only one silver bullet, even with suitcases filled with memorandum of Constitutional breaches, it had better be right on target, and be able to gather the supermajority of votes..sad it is, that they hide behind the very Constitution which gives them support.
More than sad, tragic-- but that is how the devils play.
by
Eliot Gould (11 articles, 0 quicklinks, 21 diaries, 102 comments)
on Wednesday, March 7, 2007 at 12:55:33 PM
It's quite likely that the plan is to give us another bad selection of the lesser of two weasels in November of 2008.
Perhaps it's McCain vs. Hillary or Gulianni vs. Obama or whatever.
But, there is another interesting possibility.
The two parties will provide their predictable and bland choices of "party animals" that can raise money and run television campaigns and inspire nobody.
But, if the ULTRA-RIGHT Rethuglicans who currently still support the administration (25% by all accounts -- truly party loyal and brain dead) are unhappy with the Republican candidate because he is "too liberal" or "too moderate" or just not crazy, right-wing, whacko enough, maybe they will decide to run an ultra-right, Pat Robertson-style candidate.
If it's a three-way race, why not put a real progressive out there, like Kucinich as an independent and make it a FOUR way race.
Then, the right wing Rethuglican whackos have their candidate for 20-25%, the moderate Rethuglicans (any left) have their candidate for 15-20%, the Democrats can have their "appeal to the center" candidate for 20-25% and the PROGRESSIVES, YOUTH, RADICALS and true lovers of the constitution can have THEIR ticket for 27%.
Kucinich for President with 27% of the vote.
Works for me.
by
Charlie L (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 674 comments)
on Wednesday, March 7, 2007 at 4:49:49 PM
The other side of this is a potential nightmare; enough dem votes siphoned off to enable a guy like Michael D. Huckabee to win. Then You'd have an instant Christofacist theocracy.
I don't believe America has anywhere to go now but hell either way I'm sorry to say. The party is over. It's only a matter of which party presides over continued decline. With the GOP it will be very rapid. But I don't believe the Dems have ever, or will ever have the combination of balls and vision required to keep this country out of their hands. It's only a matter of time.
by
Esbe (50 articles, 0 quicklinks, 17 diaries, 85 comments)
on Wednesday, March 7, 2007 at 6:32:11 PM
We must amend the Constitution and craft a better justification for impeaching the president; for this we need an Article V convention; learn more at www.foavc.org -- and join the group
by
Joel S. Hirschhorn (126 articles, 31 quicklinks, 58 diaries, 508 comments)
on Thursday, March 8, 2007 at 7:18:44 AM
I heard how those two were pushing the state legislature to not draw up articles of impeachment and I was appalled. I agree with everything you have written and will work my butt off to see that the current illegal cabal in the whitehouse is ousted sooner than later. Regards, Kathleen Boyd, Steilacoom, WA
by
Sisson (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Thursday, March 8, 2007 at 12:09:09 PM
Hear! Hear!, Mr. Esbe. This article spells out better than any other I've read why a "failure to impeach" is unacceptable! Think of the long-term repercussions, people!
I would add one other main reason beyond the future of the Executive Branch and the opinion of Americans by the international community... Investigations to expose hidden truths. The essential need for the electorate to wake up via the publicity that only impeachment proceedings can reveal. If the American public is to emerge from the Dark Ages of the past six years and begin to reclaim their democracy, it will only truly occur through revelations in the media of investigations held not in the basement but in the light of C-Span cameras. Should we blunder along without such increased education / sophistication of the voting public--sadly, 'tis "game over" for this Republic.
Thank you, Mr. Esbe. For the first time in my life I will be sending an opinion piece to my representatives.
Readers, please review and join the only Citizens' Impeachment plan that can back all other impeachment efforts and SUCCEED at impeaching Bush and Cheney: http://PledgeToImpeach.ORG
by
PeaceWarrior (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 3 comments)
on Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 5:02:27 AM
8 comments
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