This question keeps haunting me as the Bush Administration winds down, complete with the cacophonous accompaniment of a crashing economy and a Constitution in virtual tatters.
Where is the outrage and the will of the Democrats in the house and the Senate to do something about it? Make no mistake, there are good reasons to do something about it.
Impeachment.
It's a nasty word and it's a nasty process.
After all, you're saying that the man that was chosen to lead you has done such a poor job that he has violated the laws of the country he was hired to protect. This doesn't say much for the democratic election process. If it is put into practice, it would also inevitably polarize the country, for there are always those whose opinion would be that there was no wrongdoing, that the President was forced to make some difficult decisions and that the decisions that he made were ultimately those that fulfilled his sworn duty. There can be no doubt that there would be those that would make that argument.
However, beyond the upheaval, beyond the scraping open of old wounds and the partisan fighting that would surely emerge, there are some compelling reasons why we should, or, should have, impeached George W. Bush.
When George Bush took office, he swore to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." It is obvious to anyone who has a passing familiarity with the Constitution that he has failed in this duty. He has, in fact, done a great deal to undermine the Constitution.
>The super-secret NSA domestic spying program, a program that was so dubious that the Office of Legal Counsel would not allow the NSA to read the twisted legal opinion that purported to support what they had been ordered to do, violated American civil liberties and American law.
>The Administration efforts to discredit former Ambassador Joe Wilson by revealing the classified work of his wife was a violation of American law regarding revealing CIA assets.
>It is all but certain that the White House used slanted information to gin up public support for the uneccsary war in Iraq, a war that has bled the nation dry, cost over 4,000 American lives, and damaged our credibility beyond imagination.
>Of course, there is also the justification of torture as a policy tool that violated nearly every international humanitarian agreement, as well as American law, and was supported by legal opinions that have since been universally condemned as having virtually no legal foundation at all.
On August 20, 1974, President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, saying that the pardon was 'in the best interests of the country' and that
"it could go on and on, or someone must write an end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must."
President Ford appearing before Congress regarding his pardon of Richard Nixon.
It is certainly understandable that President Ford might want to preserve the country from the resulting controversy that was sure to spring up from an impeachment, and that sentiment is a valid one. However, as I said before, there are compelling reasons to have pursued an impeachment of President Bush.
The Bush Administration's policies did much more than the Nixon-era Watergate scandal. The violations of law that occurred under George Bush were not only domestic, but international in scope. The willful violation of treaties and, in particular, the movement into human rights violations has severely damaged America's moral foundation in the eyes of the world. The shredding of the Constitution by the Bush Administration has led the world to begin to question American character.
It must also, inevitably, lead to a group of people who are related to those who have been imprisoned without due process, sometimes for years, who have a score to settle regarding the injustices done to their families.
It is for this reason that we should have initiated impeachment proceedings against George Bush and many in his administration. There are times when you must make a statement to the world about what you believe, and to make it in unequivocal terms. It was very important for us to make a statement that we rejected the lawlessness and twisted legal thinking that has characterized the Bush administration, as well as the secrecy and lies.
Beyond that, however, is the fact that every time we get up in the morning, we are rising in a country that is bounded and protected the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, living documents that proclaim what we, collectively, believe to be true. Inherent in those documents is a promise, a promise that we can live our lives without undue interference by any authoritarian system, that we can pursue our love of life and liberty as long as we grant those same liberties and freedoms to our neighbor.
Representative Kucinich reading out articles of impeachment that, ultimately, went nowhere.
This is the promise that we have to preserve for our children, this is the promise that we have to keep.
Now you know why I am so disappointed in the Democratic leadership that has not answered the Bush administration's excesses with a call for impeachment, and you also know why I chose my title for this diary, for we truly have miles to go and much work to do before we can rest and consider that promise as secure.