Impeachment Is Not Optional; And it will get attention!

Impeachment was invented in the 17th century to assert that the king was not above the law. Edmund Randolph, the first US Attorney General under the new nation’s new Constitution argued for the impeachment power, observing "The Executive will have great opportunity of abusing his power; particularly in time of war when military force, and in some respects the public money will be in his hands." Indeed, under the cover of the War on Terrorism Bush/Cheney have grossly abused their power.

The system of checks and balances that protects us against a tyrannical executive has broken down. To reassert that balance, to restore the Constitution, to ensure accountability, to prevent the catastrophe of a wider war, impeachment proceedings against Bush/Cheney must begin.

The charges? Illegal wiretapping, manipulating intelligence and lying to Congress and the American people to start an aggressive war, illegal detention and torture of thousands of innocent people, and gross negligence in the prosecution of the war and in response to Hurricane Katrina—to start with.

A call for impeachment is first a call for investigation—which is desperately needed. From the moment that Cheney refused to release crucially important national energy policy deliberations or identify the deliberators, this most secretive administration in history has ignored, thwarted, stonewalled, and rebuffed all congressional demands for information. Sen. Patrick Leahy identified 65 such requests the White House has rejected or refused to reply to (Bee, 11-24-06). Without information there can be no oversight.

When soon-to-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi took impeachment off the table she was misreading the will of the voters who gave the Dems their majority.

Remember the old joke about the man who bought a donkey the seller swore was controllable simply with voice commands? When the mule refused to obey the new owner’s order, he brought it back to the seller, who hit the mule with a big stick—and the mule then obeyed. “I thought you said this mule would follow verbal commands,” the new owner said. “He will,” said the seller, “but first you have to get his attention.”

We must agitate for impeachment because impeachment is the fiery issue that will get their attention. Whose?

It will get the media’s attention. Corporate media is understandably reluctant to cover the many cans of worms that will be opened in an impeachment investigation because of their complicity in keeping these worms hidden in their cans. Ordinary hearings and investigations can be relegated to back pages or late night slots on cable news, but impeachment is headline material.

As such, it will get the larger public’s attention. The November election showed that—miraculously—the voting public had broken through administration and media lies—the greatest propaganda system in history—to reject Bush/Cheney’s war. But as Nat Hentoff noted in an article on the Military Commissions Act—which takes away habeas corpus for those the president defines as “enemy combatants”—the general US public seems unaware or indifferent to this administration’s unprecedented attack on our constitutional protections and liberties.

A CNN poll reported that “most Americans do not believe the Bush administration has gone too far…in restricting civil liberties as part of the war on terror.” Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley writes: “The strange thing is, we’ve become sort of constitutional couch potatoes. I mean, Congress just gave the president…despotic powers…and you could hear the yawn across the country…” (Bee 11-24-06). Impeachment and the media furor it will generate will awaken these sleepers to the gravity of our situation, to how close we are to losing the liberties that have defined this country.

Impeachment will also get the attention of our allies as well as our current enemies around the world. It will act as an apology, a repudiation on the part of the rest of the country of a corrupt lying administration, proof that we reject these lawless men and their despotic actions.

And it will get the White House’s attention. Impeachment will be the stake driven through the heart of an administration whose crimes range from massive corruption to crimes against humanity—especially since it nullifies the president’s pardon power. If we had been more thorough in prosecuting Iran–Contra—similarly a criminal executive branch defying congressional power—these same perpetrators, pardoned by the first Bush, would not be once again striding the halls of power. We can be sure that the abuses we know about aren’t the only ones—there are still many “unknowns.”

Impeachment will also help the Democrats be better democrats. Even after the strong repudiation of Bush/Cheney at the polls, these two still have all the power and are dangerous to confront. And legislators are rarely courageous. I’m not afraid of impeachment disrupting Congress because I don’t have much faith that Dems will give us what we want. Whether because Bush/Cheney’s illegal wiretapping turned up such good dirt on our legislators or whether they simply agree with (too) many Bush/Cheney positions, the Dems have been unimpressive in their plans for the new Congress, especially in their waffling about the war.

When an impeachment investigation exposes the dark deeds connected with Bush/Cheney’s hideous war, it will be impossible to support the war. And possibly any war.

Former US attorney General Ramsey Clark, our moral conscience since Viet Nam, wrote: “Congressional proceedings for impeachment can bring about open, fearless consideration of the most dangerous acts and threats ever committed by an American President. If courageously pursued, they can save our Constitution, the United Nations, the rule of law, the lives of countless people and leave open the possibility of peace on earth. Each of us must take a stand on impeachment now, or bear the burden of having failed to speak in this hour of maximum peril.” <votetoimpeach.org>

Go online, educate yourself further, and sign the impeachment petitions. Use these toll free numbers (800-828-0498, 800-459-1887 or 800-614-2803) to call your Congress members frequently. Talk with friends, and keep your eye out for impeachment demonstrations. As in the Viet Nam period, Congress didn’t want to end the war or impeach Nixon. The people forced both issues. We must do the same.

This article has been reprinted with permission from editors at Because People Matter, a local alternative news publication in the Sacramento area. Visit http://www.bpmnews.org/ for more local news.