Impeachment

Just thought I would throw my 10 cents into the ring. That's right, 10 cents not 2 cents, because it appears that I have thought about this more than most people.

There has been some increased talk lately about Impeaching the President and the Vice President. First off, the list of impeachable offenses is fairly long: fraud, warrant less wiretapping, obstruction of justice, contempt of Congress, disregarding the Freedom of Information Act, torture, secret prisons, illegal invasions and occupations, voter fraud, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. Don't make me defend the entire list, it is the administration that should be defending themselves.

What concerns me are the arguments I have been hearing about why we shouldn't Impeach:

1. They haven't done anything wrong. What planet do you live on? Oh, let me guess: Planet Fox.

2. We are at War with Terrorists that want to kill us. The "war on terror" is a recipe for perpetual war. You can't wage war against a tactic. It would be like waging war on double-entry accounting. Terrorists are criminals and we have perfectly good laws and procedures for going after criminals. And most importantly, what does terrorism have to do with our Constitution? Nothing. We must be who we need to be. We can not let terrorists dictate our actions.

3. Let's just elect the next President and hope he/she does better. This administration has gotten away with some pretty bold and illegal things. Do you want the next president who may belong to your least favorite political party to claim all the powers this administration has claimed? I don't.

4. It would be divisive and cause a Constitutional crisis! No. An Imperial President and Vice President is the Constitutional crisis--Impeachment is the cure. Impeachment proceedings are part of our U.S. Constitution.

5. Wanting to send the President to jail is just political revenge. If the President and/or the Vice President got impeached, there is almost no chance that they would go to jail. Impeachment and removal from office is all about restoring the office of the President into the hands of individuals who will uphold the Constitution. George and Dick, if removed from office, would go back to their plush private homes on their ranches. They would live happily ever after on the war profits from the private corporations they have enriched with their illegal policies. Nobody is likely to go to jail.

In short, the President and the Vice President have admitted committing illegal actions and deserve Impeachment and removal from office if they are found guilty.

The Congress has not initiated Impeachment in the face of clear evidence, and if they do not they will be in dereliction of their Constitutionally mandated responsibilities. If Congress does not begin Impeachment proceedings soon, the public should remove them from office.

The media has failed to keep the population clearly informed. And Congress may have failed to provide for a Free Press, as outlined in the Constitution, by allowing the vast majority of the media to be owned by only a handful of powerful corporations (most with ties to the Defense Department).

But finally, the public has failed to defend the U.S. Constitution. To many of us do not know the Constitution. Most of us do not communicate our wishes to our elected representatives. And we have allowed unconstitutional entities, namely corporations and political parties, to make themselves more important to the political process than those actors specifically named in the Constitution: The Congress, The President, The Vice President, The Judiciary, and the largest group, The People.

This is our Constitution. It allows mechanisms for us to throw the bums out of Washington when they cease to take their oaths seriously. We can remove our president without having to build a rebel army and storm the capital. We do not have to resort to violent and bloody revolution in America. But only if we insist that our representatives uphold the Constitution. Only if we insist that the Constitution is more important that business or political or personal affiliation.

We The People are the first and final defenders of the Constitution. And we cannot allow any group to twist, tear, and destroy our system of laws. We must Impeach. Now while we still can. Otherwise we may leave only the prospects of bloody revolution or imperial subjugation to our children.