For me,
RenaRF and her diary The Case to Impeach George W. Bush embodies the best that Daily Kos has to offer. The diary is well researched, thoughtfully written, and a call to
action.
RenaRF has not only sparked an important debate, but steadfastly focused on self-governance, that constitutionally mandated duty to hold our leaders and ourselves accountable.
The handful of negative comments illustrate the hard reality that many Americans have accepted their role as victims. And yet, the naysayers are right, albeit for the wrong reasons, because any argument for impeaching this president is fundamentally flawed.
I ask that you bear with me.
This diary is a call for action, but begins with a plea for thought.
The Think Part
Impeachment is a process within our system of democracy. But currently, that system is broken. You need look no further than the case of Terry Schiavo to reasonably conclude that President Bush and the United States Congress no longer faithfully represent the people of the United States.
So how can we expect a legislative course of action to serve us? In truth, we on the cusp of an oligarchy: the executive and legislative branches of our government have been successfully consolidated. This administration has indisputably committed crimes, the evidence of which has been suppressed by a few powerful congressional leaders.
I have posted diaries using words like "traitor" and "war criminal" about members of this administration. And I have been regularly admonished for helping to portray "the left" as raving lunatics. But I will not stoop to adopting euphemisms simply to advance an agenda. The word for that is spin. Until someone explains to me the difference between Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons against Iran and George W. Bush's use of depleted uranium munitions against Iraq, I refuse to pretty it up or dumb it down for the sake of decorum.
And I cannot wait and hope the 2006 elections solve our problems. As I write this, those elections are 419 days away. Based on this year's rate, another 750 U.S. soldiers will be killed during that time. God only knows how many Iraqi non-combatants.
So what can we do? Only the judicial branch remains, and barely at that. When Sandra Day O'Connor retired before William Rehnquist, I knew he would not last the year. But though the press and two out of three branches have fallen, the coup isn't yet complete.
-^-^-
The Do Part
Since the election in 2004, I have been looking for a legitimate judicial solution to the excesses and abuses of our current leaders. I have yet to find one. My email to the ACLU requesting representation, based on the infringement of my civil rights by election fraud, was unanswered.
I looked through the legal sections of the United Nations web site to see if a country's citizens can request their leaders be investigated for war crimes. I stopped at the phrase "if all reasonable domestic means have been exhausted."
Yet I remain convinced the way to reclaim our government is through the legal system, with some kind of class-action suit.
I am painfully ignorant of the law, but hopeful that perhaps this community will rally around this idea. I don't know how it would work, and I sure as hell can't pay for it, but I would put my name on the top of the list.
Someone commented on RenaRF's diary that impeaching Bush would serve only to further divide us. I don't see how that is possible -- this administration has used a strategy of "divide and conquer" from day one. The only way we can reconcile that divide is to lay out the truth for all to see, so that as a people we can accept it, grieve over it, and learn from our mistakes. That is the path to healing.
And the only path that has a chance of leading to a full and transparent investigation of that truth is through the legal system. When has a congressional investigation ever fully informed its citzenry.
The threat of indictment and conviction is the only weapon we have left to wield, and the strength of our numbers can make that threat impossible to dismiss.
What say you all?
(Again, kudos to RenaRF and her classy and inspiring diary)