As you may or may not know, the word shall is the word that protects a society from politicians if they ever become criminal.
To paraphrase Jefferson: The two enemies of the people are criminals and government--the Constitution is the thing which prevents the latter from becoming a legalized version of the former.
The Constitution is basically one big SHALL.
Buddydharma has a diary up today about impeachment. As mentioned in that thread, I'm all for it. Just on principle alone. I like doing things on principle alone. Sometimes it can get you in hot water with people you admire and/or love; sometimes it can derail your life. But as the poets have said: all of life is a moral drama, borne out of not allowing circumstance to dictate choice.
I like the clarity of that: that this thing we call life is a moral drama, and no one who's really living it escapes having to make hard choices.
Anyway, the word shall.... I don't know when the last time you took a look at the Constitution, but if you scan through, you'll see the word shall in just about every phrase--or each clause. This is the meaning of the rule of law, that thing upon which our Judeo/Christian society is based. When the word shall appears, no one gets to decide if they'll obey it or not. Of course Article 1, Section 2 contains the impeachment clause. It should have been invoked back when Cheney held closed-door meetings with the private sector in regards to energy policy (seems like ages ago doesn't it?).
So we have people begining to call for impeachment. Why now? Who knows. I have hunches--basically that something has gone terribly wrong for the Powers That Be, and that the natives are restless, and if need be, they'll throw one of their own to the lions if that'll pacify them enough for their political charade to remain in place.
I can get behind the impeachment movement, but even if Bush and Cheney and Gonzales were thrown in prison tomorrow, what will that have done to the special interests which control the legislative branch? Well, at least it'll show the world that Americans are not a bunch of blind pigs, that we still have enough of our spirit left, however misguided it is.
Anyway, I'd rather we hold a national convention. Why? Because it will show the world we not only still have spirit, but that we mean business about ridding the interests which perpetuate the lies that have the course of humanity on a footing of perpetual war. And it's non-partisan too. No talking head will be able to whisper in the ears of those on one side of the isle or another about why a convention is bad for anyone.
So, as you may or may not know, there is a small but growing movement for a national convention--an Article V Convention. It's housed at this site: http://www.foavc.org
Yesterday FOAVC more than doubled its membership, and now has over 300 Americans who have recognized the convention clause of Article V as the solution to so many problems.
Just a few notes for this Saturday afternoon that has us headlong towards a point of no return.
It may not always look it, but it really is all good.