Impeachment Proceedings
Cindy Sheehan
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more
perfect Union, establish
Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common
defence,
promote the General Welfare, and secure the Blessings of
Liberty to ourselves
and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the United States of America.
Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of
America
There are many important issues facing our nation and the 110th Congress.
Minimum wage increases and universal health care are long past due.I certainly
appreciate the stirrings about bringing our troops home from Iraq within 3 or 4
months, too! After all, sic more troops were killed yesterday while our
politicoes are playing footsies with each other! We thought that Nov. 7th was a
day to celebrate! When the last of our brave young people come limping home to
their relieved families that will be a joy-filled and historic day.
I believe, though, that those same troops and others who have fought so
bravely, died so needlessly, and have been wounded for life deserve justice for
what the Bush regime has put them through. I believe that this country and the
world deserve justice for the raping and pillaging by the pirates who have
stolen our liberties and inflicted torture and other pains and hardships upon
the world. I believe that impeachment proceedings are the most important issue
that the 110th Congress should put on OUR table.
Since I have written open letters to George and Reps Pelosi and Conyers, I
have had almost overwhelming support for the ideas, but there are also some
legitimate concerns that need to be addressed.
First of all, many people believe that impeachment proceedings will be seen
as "political" revenge for what the Republicans have done to the Democrats for
the last 12 years or revenge for the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Impeachment is
not a political tool as used by the Republican Congress, but it is a
Constitutional remedy for elected or appointed officials who are abusing their
powers. If George has not abused his powers as president and commander in chief,
then no president in history has. I will not detail his high crimes and
misdemeanor and crimes against peace and humanity, because all of his illicit
activities have already been well documented. Justice should not be a partisan
issue and if Congress took their oath to the Constitution as seriously as they
take their allegiance to the special interests and to partisan politicking,
George would have already been impeached.
Secondly, many people are fearful that impeachment proceedings will
bog down Congress. Elizabeth Holtzman who was a Representative from New York
and sat on the investigative committee that recommended impeachment articles be
charged against Richard Nixon said, last weekend at our impeachment forum in
Philadelphia's Constitutional Hall, that this kind of reasoning doesn't give
Congress enough credit. Ms. Holtzman said that Congress is able to "walk and
chew gum" at the same time. I will have to take her word for it, since she is
the reasoned voice of experience.
Lastly, people are concerned that holding George accountable will further
divide a country already damaged and split by the "Uniter." This is a legitimate
concern, but our country healed completely after the Nixon debacle, and we will
heal again. I would like to also give us Americans the credit that we deserve.
We have proven over and over again that we are very resilient and strong enough
to withstand a quest for accountability.
Recent polls have shown that most Americans want proceedings instituted
against BushCo. The newly elected Congressional leadership will not institute
these proceedings unless the will of the people is shown. Many members of the
Congresses, in both parties, that have been seated since BushCo came to power in
an illegal electoral coup in 2000, have been willing co-conspirators in the Bush
crimes against everything and it is up to the will of the American people to
correct the course that is robbing the Blessings of Liberty from all of us and
from our posterity. As the preamble states, it is our Constitution, as well as
it is theirs, and we need to reclaim our country and our humanity before it is
lost to us forever.
Bringing Articles of Impeachment against BushCo will not only bring
resolution and justice to our nation and the world, but if this regime is made
to be held accountable for their crimes and abuses of power, then future
administrations may be slower to commit such blatant and belligerent crimes and
the world will be a safer and more peaceful place. But there is an overriding
reason for these proceedings to be instituted as soon as possible: A president
is not above the law, or the law. A president is an elected official who has a
duty to obey, carry out and protect the laws of our land, not break them as if
he were a dictator of a banana republic, not leader of a once great nation. We
need to restore our greatness and our credibility to a world that despises us
for allowing BushCo free rein to commit their aggressions against the
world.
By attaining this justice that our world so desperately needs, we people of
compassion and courage cannot bring back the hundreds of thousands of people who
have been killed already. We cannot put the buildings back together that the war
machine's bombs have destroyed. We cannot make whole the people who have been
emotionally and physically wounded by these high crimes and misdemeanors. We
cannot put back together the families who have been torn apart by illegal wars.
No matter how hard we try, we cannot prevent the pain that has already been
caused by BushCo, but by bringing them to justice, we can, and will prevent more
needless suffering here at home and abroad for the present and for our
posterity.
Our dead, our soldiers, and the people of Iraq are voiceless in the debate
on accountability and we must be their voices. The Constitution cannot break out
of its glass at the National Archives and sit-in in front of the White House or
walk the Halls of Congress to demand that BushCo quit desecrating it and what
the US used to stand for. It is up to us, the citizens, to protect humanity and
the law of our land. As historian Howard Zinn states in the introduction to
Impeach the President, the Case against Bush and Cheney, edited by Dennis
Loo and Peter Phillips:
We cannot expect either Republicans or Democrats in Congress to
initiate any challenge to the existing order of things. In the history of the
nation, serious injustices---slavery, racial segregation, the rights of working
people, the condition of women, the war in Vietnam---have only been remedied by
powerful social movements that have forced the government to change its
policies.
Now we have another such time.
Our very existence as a nation of laws and justice depends on it.
Please visit
Impeach for
Change to learn about the new and powerful people's movement for
accountability. Sign up for an impeachment forum in your area on Human Rights
day, December 10th, or organize one locally if there is not one near you. I will
be speaking with, among other notable Americans, Elizabeth Holtzman, at the
forum in NYC that day.
Please visit
Gold
Star Families for Peace to learn about our
Walk for Change
campaign in the Halls of Congress on January 3rd and 4th, 2007. You can join
Gold Star Family members in our demand for peace and accountability.
2006 was the year of the Awakening and 2007 will be the year of the
Change!