Representative Mark Udall from Colorado has been holding a series of meetings where citizens can meet and give him ideas for how to fix this broken country. His staff take the written or video reports and prepare them so that he can get them fairly straight from the citizens not just of his district but throughout Colorado. Last Saturday at North High School in Denver he held a large gathering (also attended by Representative Ed Perlmutter) to share some of the stories of citizens who have attended these earlier gatherings as Representative Udall tries to expand the participation in the program. It's refreshing to have an opportunity to address a US Representative and have them hear unscripted questions.
My problem with this is, he asks for ideas but ignores the biggest one - supporting the US Constitution. We need to go after those who have broken America and make them pay for their lawbreaking and he refuses to consider it when it is thrust before him. I went there eager to see my next Senator, and came away disgusted with a Representative who puts personal political advancement above the will of the people.
Disclaimer - I am in Representative Tom Tancredo's district, and while he doesn't seem to care to represent the citizens of the district like me and he's retiring this year, at least I know why he votes the way he does. That's how my neighbors want him to vote.
The meeting was to hear some of the stories of participants, and they were up on the stage at the front of the cafeteria. I listened to the ideas of the people and after each one told what it is that they'd like to see fixed, Representative Udall had a few words on what he had done or what he is trying to do to fix these issues. The issues included the protracted wars being fought on the backs of volunteers who are being forced into extra tours of duty because the army isn't up to this type of fight, fixing Medicare Part D, especially the "donut hole", getting more teachers and smaller class sizes, fixing student loan applications that judge eligibility based upon the income of both parents, even when one divorced one refuses to spend a penny so they really shouldn't be included, and addressing global warming since it is impacting hunters and sportsmen (as well as animals and non-sporting humans). I didn't list all of the ideas brought up, but that's the majority. There were, in addition, stories on posters around the hall that have come from some of the various meetings and I found some to cover issues I hadn't thought of before.
When all of the people on stage had their time, a loud voice from in back of me asked if Mark Udall would answer a question. Mark had answered one or two previously, and he said he would here. The speaker identified himself as Bob Kinsey, the Green party candidate for the Senate. UPDATE - It was Buddy Moore, not Bob Kinsey, per the comments below (thank you for the correction). He asked Mark Udall if Mark would make a pledge today to fight against the lawlessness of the Bush-Cheney administration by standing with Representatives Kucinich and Wexler in getting impeachment hearings against Dick Cheney advanced in the House of Representatives. It was an ambush, but that question was precisely the one I wanted to see addressed and what had drawn me to the meeting. There were some mild boos that greeted this question but there was also some applause. Mark Udall (it's hard for me to address him as a Representative here) said that the issue of impeachment would be a distraction from the important work of Congress the same way that it was a distraction in 1998 during Clinton's tenure and that he wanted to work towards the future, not dwell on the past issues. He said that Bush was finished after the results of 2006 and that there are other things he wants to focus on like the economy, health care and the environment during the remaining 10 months of this congressional session. Bob Kinsey [Buddy Moore] tried to follow up, calling Mark's answer duplicitous but eventually Mark moved on to another questioner as some people shouted down Bob Kinsey [Buddy Moore]. I recall one person proclaiming that Bob wasn't doing the Green party any favors by pressing the issue in this way. The other questions were on other topics, but just about the last questioner got back around to the idea of the separation of powers and asked about what good was congress if it just lets the president do whatever he wants, including violating the law? Mark responded in much the same way - look forward, it doesn't do any good to focus on things of the past.
My blood was boiling, and I think I'm even madder that it's a Democrat from probably one of the safest seats in the country (the People's Republic of Boulder) who has put his political ambition above his sworn duty to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies foreign and domestic. And this Democrat wants my vote and assistance to become my Senator? We've had our hard work and trust betrayed by the last Democratic senator elected from this state when Ken Salazar has voted to confirm extreme right-wing judges and said he'd work against the power of the Democrats to fillibuster, he has supported AG Alberto Gonzales, he has voted for telecom immunity and the other hideous provisions of the Protect America Act, Military Commissions Act and their ilk, and he has kept silent as the administration has admitted to breaking laws, daring Congress to do anything to them.
Now Mark Udall is saying that the Clinton impeachment for lieing over a blow job is the same type of distraction as torture, lieing us into war, destruction of federal records, refusals to testify to Congress and produce documents, corruption, cronyism, theft of funds, warrantless spying on US citizens here and abroad, suspension of the rule of law and citizen rights, well, if you're a Kossack you know these issues and many more. Mark Udall says it would be a distraction to deal with these issues during the election year, and things will all be better if we focus on the future. Well he's being willfully ignorant on this and it's because of Democrats like him, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid that we're not only suffering from this now, but we're going to suffer from it ten fold the next time a Republican gets into the White House. He's someone who is trying to be elected statewide and is pandering to those who don't want to push against those Republicans in the Executive branch because it might be mean. If he were to do his job and represent the people of Boulder, he'd be pushing for impeachment (I don't know numbers, but I'll bet Boulder would have a much higher desire for impeachment of Cheney than the 54% nationally that was in the poll that came out last July). But he refuses because he wants to be a statewide office holder and in some fantasy he thinks he might appeal to some areas of the state that are Republican. He should get a clue - they're not going to vote for a Boulder Democrat no matter whether he pushes for impeachment or pushes for more war. Maybe he doesn't want to be called nasty names, but he might as well get called them for standing on principle than for pandering to those who are calling him the names in the first place.
Mark is old enough to remember where Bush's team got their ideas - these ideas came from Nixon's administration, where many of these guys learned how to lie, cheat, obfuscate and prevent the truths from coming out of the crimes that were committed. We had a Democratic president for four years after Nixon/Ford, but since Ford had forgiven Nixon, the country tried to move on and heal. Well, the lesson that taught Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of that team was that a President can forgive all lawbreaking and if Congress doesn't want to prove a crime happened, it didn't. At least not with the Justice department controlled by the President.
When Ronald Reagan came into office, so did all the people who never were punished for crimes in the Nixon administration. When these schemers got caught in Iran Contra, they were forgiven by the Republican president. When Bill Clinton was in office, the Republicans got into Congress and began never-ending investigations into issues that turned out to be non-crimes, including Travelgate, Vince Foster and Whitewater and they knew that the president would be forever distracted and manipulated by these investigations. With the ascension of George W Bush into office and a Republican congress, they were handed the keys to the cookie jar, henhouse, whatever you might want to call it. Nothing was illegal, no crime would be punished, no shame was too great (unless it involved underage male pages) and everything was possible - wars, vast sweetheart contracts, plundering of the US Treasury, torture (yes, I do believe there are those in this administration who enjoy the idea of torturing others, just to make them feel pain - after all the President himself liked to torture defenseless animals when he was young). This was all done by people who learned in Nixon's administration that the president can be all-powerful if nobody stands up to him and they plotted and schemed until they had the pieces in place for what has become the most disastrous period in American history.
And Mark Udall thinks that it's best for the country to look the other way on these crimes? That everything will be all right when the next president is sworn in next January? That the country will magically be seen by the rest of the world as it was back before Bush drove us off the cliff? That is just so naive, wrong, disgusting and exactly why I believe congress has a lower approval rating than George W. Bush.
Mr. Udall, here's an idea that is so large it goes into the fabric of everything it means to be an American. The US Constitution is the heart of what makes this country great, and we all should support and defend it from those who would break it. You even took a public oath to that effect. The citizens of part of Colorado voted for you as their representative to go to Washington and do just that. They didn't vote for you to go and plan your way towards a job in the US Senate. They voted for you to represent their interests as US citizens, and the one you swore to follow is the one you just said was not worth putting effort towards. When the President of the United States says that he has directed his people to violate amendments of the US Constitution, it should not be a political decision about whether to investigate and, if the evidence is there, to prosecute. It is your sworn duty, Mr. Representative.
I believe that this is a country of laws, not of men above the law; I believe this is a country that holds to ideals even when they may be difficult to achieve, not one where you only follow the laws you like; I believe this is a country that holds a special place in the world, a shining light on the hill, not a place where we torture, disappear people and bring back memories of the worst policies of those countries like the Soviet Union and Hitler's Germany that we fought and defeated; I believe this country believes in the Golden Rule - the one about doing to others as you would have them do unto you rather than the cynical version where those that have the gold rule; I believe that we are special and we must lead by example, not rush to be as mean and cruel as those who would destroy us; I believe in America, where all citizens are created equal, endowed by their creator with inalienable rights, among them the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. What America do you believe in, Mr. Udall?