... let Facts be submitted to a candid World.
the Declaration of Independence (1776)
I used to think that Cindy Sheehan had gone a grudge too far, when she announced that she was going to challenge Nancy Pelosi for Pelosi’s House seat.
Why, Nancy Pelosi is the first woman Speaker of the House in U.S. history!
But then, I remembered that Sandra Day O’Connor had been the first woman Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. And O’Connor betrayed the Constitution every bit as much as Pelosi has betrayed the Congress. The difference is that O’Connor could never repair the damage she did. Nor, rescue her good name from the gutter of history.
Nancy, on the other hand, can.
Let me explain:
Now there have been a few quislings and collaborators. Harry Reid has been complicit in the current, slow coup d’etat on the Constitution, as well, refusing to use his powers as the Senate’s majority leader. Allowing the Republicans the "courtesy" of endless pro forma filibusters.
What’s a pro forma filibuster?
Well, a filibuster relates to the Senate’s former DC Comics title of "Greatest Deliberative Body in the World." It used to mean that if everybody in the Justice League wanted to storm Luthor’s stronghold, and Braniac thought that it was a bad idea, he could hold the floor by a parliamentary maneuver (the "rules" of debating, the basis of Roberts’ Rules of Order, based on General Robert’s years as Sergeant at Arms of the House) as long as a majority of members didn’t vote for "cloture" — a fancy word for "SHUT UP."
Until Batman can assemble a majority of the Justice League to vote for cloture, Brainiac will continue to babble on, reciting the names of every person in the Metropolis phone book.
In the old days, reading passages from phone books was a popular tactic. Why? Because, well, the filibuster required that you actually TALK, to hold the floor. Some of the filibusters went on for long hours, like dance marathons. And, sometimes they worked. They were a last ditch effort. Southern senators used them successfully for years to block civil rights legislation.
It’s what Jimmy Stewart does in Mr. Smith Goes To Washington to stop the passage of a land-grab bill.
Well, the Senate got tired of the long-wind-a-thons (although if you watch CSPAN 2, you’ll notice that there are a lot of times when the senate is pretty empty), and agreed if somebody SAID they were going to filibuster, they’d table the bill and move on to the next one (so as not to stop the business of the Senate, which is now a year ’round affair).
That’s the pro forma part. They no longer have to talk to hold the floor. They just have to say they will. Harry Reid is the Majority Leader, and he COULD force them to actually have to talk. The number of bills currently being "filibustered" by the GOP is ... well, it’s far and away the greatest number of filibusters recorded in Senate history.
And this from the party that was trying to do AWAY with the filibuster a mere two years ago. Funny how losing an election changes your perspective. When you’re the minority party, you don’t want stuff shoved up your rectum like a New York police baton in quite the same way you were breathlessly screaming for when you were in the majority.
It is a peculiarity of human psychology.
So, part of it is Harry Reid’s fault, for not exercising the power that is his alone to exercise. The buck stops squarely at Harry Reid’s desk for not confronting a GOP that has laid itself on the train tracks, and defies the Republic to move forward. But the fault lies with Harry Reid, as majority leader for refusing to rein in a party that is flouting the will of We, the People. He has the unquestioned power to do so.
But the buck doesn’t stop with Harry Reid.
Nancy Pelosi has a special responsibility in all of this. From a document on YOUR site, house.gov:
... it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.
Nancy:
Being the "first" does not relieve you of responsibility for your actions in office, or, more importantly, of your INACTIONS in office.
As we allow an increasingly petulant, out-of-control presidency, as we allow Bush and his minions and cronies to flaunt and to flout the law, ALL law becomes irrelevant. When the leaders do not obey the laws, those that they lead do not obey the laws, either.
As the Congress of the United States of America was always the governing body of these united states, even when we were the united colonies, it is clear from the intent of the framers that congress was always intended as the first among equals. Constitution, Article I. In the final analysis, the only power in this government, the final check, the ultimate power granted by the ultimate power — the legitimate vote of We, the People — is the power of the purse.
You’re a woman. You know about purses.
And rather than use that power to demand answers on this war, on the depredations of what, increasingly seems like a deranged, if not debauched maladministration of death, bribery, corruption, and plunder, without the accountability that CONGRESS is given that ultimate power FOR, you do nothing.
You have no right to consider your political career, Ms. Pelosi. You have no right to consider what the opinion polls might say. You were elected to make hard decisions.
You and you alone have the power of the purse, as the Speaker. Ultimately, your fellow Democrats could remove you, granted, and elect a new Speaker. But, you have an obligation to, if necessary, fall on your sword and refuse to allow a dime to be spent until and unless YOUR government officials appear before YOU.
They are not "Administration" employees, they are GOVERNMENT employees, and YOU control their salaries, e.g. they work for YOU.
Did you know that at the time of the Civil War and for many years afterwards, cabinet officers were considered directly answerable to congress, and only marginally under presidential control in the administration of the country?
None of the founders, none of the framers would have stood for the inhabitants of the White House openly sneering at congressional subpoenas. Few administrations would have taken it to the level of subpoena. A mere request would have been necessary.
You and you alone are responsible for reminding the president that we are a nation of laws and not of men.
And, having the power, and having the duty, as the highest ranking constitutional officer charged with defending the Constitution, you have to stop the purse, and impeach the Vice President and the President of the United States (or, rather, those having grabbed the offices aforementioned).
You do not have the right to fiddle while Rome burns. The number and magnitude of offenses multiplies, and you behave like a lunatic mother forgiving "little precious" of every sin, until he kills some other child, and you protect him still. There is no rational excuse for not initiating impeachment, as the constitution shreds under repeated, organized and deliberate assault.
What we have, Madame Speaker, is a gang of sadists and bullies. And people are dying each and every day in a war that we were lied into, and that they refuse to end, even though "mission accomplished" was declared ... how many years ago?
We cannot fail to act. You have no right NOT to act. You do not own your office. You hold your office in trust, as all governmental offices are held in trust.
Clearly Messrs. Bush and Cheney have betrayed THEIR trust. You cannot deny that by any evasion, sophistry or rhetorical stunt. That is indisputable fact. Therefore, you CANNOT remain inert. You cannot be held to a campaign promise, or any other reason not to immediately initiate impeachment proceedings against the "hangin’ party" that managed to "get" Saddam Hussein with a hanging in a secret location, at night, by men in black masks.
Sometimes the future isn’t as important as the present. Sometimes doing the right thing, and doing the easy thing are different things. Your gender is no defense. You must act. Sometimes great offices demand great sacrifices, and difficult decisions.
Sometimes you have to fall on your own sword, for the good of the country you serve. A lot of decent kids have died honorably in an obscene war, but they did their duty, and your political future and your personal ego aren’t as important as the life of ONE soldier.
Anyone who believed otherwise about themselves would not be fit to serve in any public capacity whatsoever. I am sure you will agree.
You must do your duty. And you must impeach. There is no one else with the power, and, therefore the responsibility. The buck stops with you.
(Don’t look so glum. A substantial number of Americans already feel that way. The number will only grow. Besides, if you do a good job, you’ll be president.)
But only your hand holds the gavel. And only you can perform the duty that We, the People, entrusted you with.
Don’t let us down.
Courage.
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cross posted from his vorpal sword