(Special to ImpeachforPeace.org)
I am writing this to some of my liberal friends who reside in Minneapolis as well as some progressive politicians representing the constituents of Minneapolis, St. Paul and Minnesota in general. (Some of these elected leaders are people I know personally.) I realize not everyone is completely ready or in favor of impeachment, however, amongst my progressive/liberal friends, mostly it seems that many of us happen to agree that Bush and Cheney need to be impeached.
For the past several years at my own local neighborhood caucuses, my neighbors and I have consistently and unanimously passed resolutions in favor of impeachment. While I certainly cannot speak for the outcome of other caucuses, it would not surprise me one bit if the outcome (in favor of impeachment) were the same all over Minneapolis and St. Paul and perhaps the entire state of Minnesota. It is hard to say for sure without actually bothering to ask or find out what in fact the constituents as a group believe.
Therefore I applaud the efforts of Keith Ellison and Dennis Kucinich for daring to make some headway with the impeachment proceedings despite any possible fears of a backlash in upcoming elections.
While I understand the political risk of taking a stand in favor of impeachment, I sincerely urge my politicians and leaders to have the courage to speak out in favor of impeachment, or at the very least, take the time to hold town meetings on the subject to find out once and for all what the voters really want.
If you are reading this as a politician and thinking to yourself, "But as a politician I can't DO anything about this since I am a representative for my district/city/county which has absolutely NOTHING to do with the Bush administration, so I'd rather play it safe and not get involved..."; PLEASE know that what you do as a political leader DOES matter and DOES make difference!
Aside from the fact that it matters to 'we the voters', please take a look at all of the cities and towns all over the nation who are doing just that... getting the ball rolling with impeachment efforts in a very grassroots way.
Even if this is an election year for you, please at least consider taking a stand. Again, I completely understand the risk involved in making such a bold statement, but trust me, a LOT of the voters who happen to be your constituents have a great deal of respect for a leader who is brave enough to make such a bold statement.
Remember, we are talking about Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Minnesota. In other words, a VERY progressive and also grassroots place. This is a place where the beloved Paul Wellstone won multiple elections and where his voters STILL grieve his death several years later. Wellstone was perhaps the most liberal in the Senate.
Also, there are MANY Minnesotans who find Keith Ellison to be a very refreshing politician. I happened to receive training for Camp Wellstone last year, and one VERY important factor in winning elections is being true to yourself. If in your heart you agree with me and also many of your constituents on the impeachment issue, please, please, PLEASE consider making this view public despite the possible risks involved. Doing so would actually in many ways boost your chances for success.
I am in support of impeachment for several reasons. The main reason is the principle of the matter. Bush and Cheney have consistently lied. Many Democrats in congress claim to have been lied to and mislead with regard to the war in Iraq and the nonexistent WMDs. Yet hear we are, several years later, trillions of tax dollars later, with hundreds of thousands of dead people, in a war that NEVER should have happened.
For those of you (both politicians AND voters) who truly believe the story we have been told that the Democrats in congress were lied to and mislead (as opposed to being in bed with the Republicans), the best thing you can do about your anger about being lied to and mislead would be to demand impeachment! Honestly, in my opinion it seems a bit hypocritical to claim to be lied to and mislead, yet opposed to impeachment.
Why would any progressive be opposed to impeachment? It was bad enough that Nixon stole files and spied on the Democrats. However, in comparison Nixon seems like a piece of cake to Bush! I say this as someone who has heard MANY horror stories about Nixon, but was born in 1980, "survived" the Reagan years, and feel that I have felt MANY negative consequences on a very personal level (as have many people that I know) as a very direct result of the Bush administration.
It really can't get any worse than the Bush administration. Oh wait, it CAN. What would be worse would be having to put up with the jerk until 2008, yet he and his administration NOT ever having to answer any questions!
For those of you who respond with, "But what about ending the war? We REALLY should just focus on THAT! We can't do it all!" Really? Wanna make a bet? I don't know about you, but I multitask ALL the time. I have multitasked at work and I have multitasked at home. Using ending the war as the reason for NOT being in favor of impeachment is a pretty lame/sorry excuse in my opinion. If congress can't handle being able to multitask on the job, let's elect politicians who can handle the stress of multitasking! Heck, elect me! I can multitask just fine!
Congress gets paid quite well and they have excellent healthcare benefits (unlike most of the country including the millions of uninsured Americans). Considering the really luxurious treatment they receive, I THINK they ought to be able to handle multitasking!
I don't know about you, but I have MANY unanswered questions of the Bush administration, and ONLY impeachment would ever make those crooks have to answer such questions!
Some of my questions involve...
- Stealing of the 2000 elections (including the unethical and racist Jim Crow like voter purge list in Florida involving such crooked people and groups as Katharine Harris, Diebold, Jeb Bush, the Supreme Court, etc.)
- Failing to sign the Kyoto agreement
- Slimy connections to Enron and Kenny Boy
- Slimy connections to Abramhoff
- MANY details about 9/11 (Why are the Bushes friends with the Bin Ladens? Why were the Bin Ladens flown home when nobody else was allowed to fly? What about Bush slipping up with the details; such as claiming to have seen the first plane slam into the towers when it was NOT on t.v., smirking while reading to children, yet obviously LYING, etc.? Explain how WT7 fell into it's own footprint. Or how those are the ONLY 3 buildings in history that HAVE fallen onto their footprints from office fires, yet look VERY similar to a controlled demolition. Or the squibs of smoke and flashes that occurred, VERY similar to a controlled demolition. Or the fact that MANY people who were witnesses and survived the attacks describe something more like an explosion... including from lower levels, as opposed to what the official story claims.
Why DID WT7 fall? Or more interestingly, why did the man who owned it say to "pull it"? Pull WHAT? You mean, demolish it in a controlled way? Huh? And why was the evidence destroyed and cleaned up so quickly by... **cough cough**...a DEMOLITION company? When can the American public SEE the damned video tapes of the plane slamming into the Pentagon... considering there must be LOTS of security video footage?
Why do those of us who dare have the intelligence to ask such questions have to be constantly shushed by others or told we are somehow un-American for having the brains to actually QUESTION authority? And how is this a democracy if citizens are basically told to shut the hell up and not ask questions? When WILL we get the answers, and if the official story is so true, why are the ‘powers that be’ SOOOOOOOOO terrified to tell us the whole story and answer our questions?
- So, on that note, where IS Bin Laden? Why haven't we found the jerk, and why have we spend more time, money, and lives on Iraq than on Afghanistan if the Taliban was such a threat? And seriously, who produces those ridiculous Bin Laden tapes anyway? FOX News? Do they think we are THAT stupid? Come ON! I've taken video production and editing courses before! Find me an actor and put a fake beard and turban on his head, put him in what looks like a cave, give him a script and voila... you have what appears to be one of those infamous Bin Laden tapes!
Okay, to be fair, those tapes might be for real, but the Bush administration has made me so incredibly cynical, I really don't believe anything they OR the media say. I'm better off watching international news. I'm less likely to get lied to and more likely to hear something newsworthy as opposed to some crap about Paris Hilton, Brangelina, Brittany, or Anna Nicole Smith's baby's daddy! What a waste of tape and air time! But ultimately, if those tapes are real, for the love of God, send in the CIA already and kill the man! It's been done HOW many times in history? So DO IT already!
- Katrina (FEMA, levees, COMPLETE failure on the part of the Bush administration, people died, stupidity of Barbara Bush and her racist hateful words, etc.)
- Firing of U.S. attorneys
- Illegal wiretaps/spying (Didn't we already impeach Nixon?)
- Guantanamo Bay
- Torturing of detainees
- Leaking name of CIA agent
- LYING about the WMDs and Iraq!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, that's all off the top of my head, and I'm sure I am forgetting more. That's the scary part; there are SOOOOOOOOO many reasons to impeach Bush, the list goes on forever! So, seriously, WHY would you NOT be in favor of impeachment? If you think Bush has committed impeachable offenses (how could you NOT think that?), then do the right thing, do the honorable thing, refuse to take it any longer, and speak your mind and SAY that you are in favor of impeachment!
To Mayor Rybak in particular...I realize you represent Minneapolis and I currently live in St. Paul. (Though I did grow up in Minneapolis.) I saw the photograph of you with the impeachment button. You knew your photograph was being taken at the May Day Parade. You were out in public. You know people blog and take cameras everywhere. You should have just said, "No comment", but you didn't. I have always had a lot of respect for you as the mayor of Minneapolis, but I must say I am really disappointed in you now backing out of your support for impeachment. Again, the photograph tells the true story. Please correct that embarrassing mistake and BE in favor of impeachment. Be a leader, not a follower. Lead like Edwards has been. Suck it up and admit you made a mistake. We'll forgive you! If you do that, I will go way out of my way to defend you for it. But until that, I remain very disappointed. Stop being so "safe" in your views. Take a daring stand once in awhile! Look to Keith Ellison for inspiration. Progressives want risk takers and change. Be the change we seek please!
Sincerely,
Kristin Rafferty
