Are we still a nation of laws
Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 05:20:19 AM PDT
Congressman Robert Wexler of Florida has been doing to me what I ought to be doing to him; filling my mailbox with calls for action regarding the efforts of the Bush administration to diminish the powers of Congress in favor of the powers of the Executive branch and demanding support for impeachment.
Federalists, the representatives of the haves and have mores, the Congressional lawyers of the corporations, have been working to diminish the powers of the Congress in favor of the Executive and Judicial Branches since 1798, but never before have they so blatently sought to give Congress a coup de gras. They now recognize that after a couple centuries of this brainwashing we have lost our ability to be outraged and devolved from revolutionaries into consumers.
Federalists lose no opportunity to remind us that we really are a Federal Republic and not a Democracy because we elect representatives who prefer to avoid too much imput from we the people and any tendancies toward our actually participating in the decision making process.
Hillary Clinton demands that despite Obama being ahead in the popular vote and the delegate count, we give consideration to him serving as her vice president. She says she would permit that.
Our choices are McCain continuing the Bush administration, Hillary continuing the Clinton administration and Obama. Something is troubling me but i don't know what it is, ...
Our votes are filtered through super delegates in primaries and an electoral college in the general election. Before that they are filtered through corporate funding and the coverage of media pundits.
The ability of media pundits to rewrite our laws into policies and then suggest that if the President does it its legal has made our legal system into a bad joke with the Justice Department refusing follow the laws.
In 2000 we voted for Gore rather than Bush. The issue was taken away from counting the votes and seating electors to resolve an election into a selection by lawyers and judges. The decision to select Bush over Gore was made by five conservative Federalist Judges appointed by conservative Federalist Presidents, when that resolution would Constitutionally have been made by Congress.
The Federalist Society sends well respected lawyers, judges, public officials and other power brokers to lecture to law students about Federalism, separation of powers and judicial review with the gradual result that most of the lawyers and politicians running for Congress, think of the President as Commander in Chief of the government.
Instead of Congress having all the power and the President being there to execute their instructions as the Constitution provides, the idea of Separation of Powers is advanced. It should be noted that what powers the President does have are to execute the instructions of the Congress with the advice and consent of the Senate. Separation of Powers and Judicial review attempt to take that advice and consent of the Senate part out.
Then its suggested that as a unitary executive the President can make his own decisions about the Departments in his Branch. This includes the Defense Department, and the Justice Department among a score of other less carefully observed Departments.
The funding required for their operations is now demanded rather than requested. We and our politicians accept that sespite that the Constitution gives Congress the sole power of removal in the instrument of impeachment.
Now we have already been through the process of voting for Democrats and giving them the clear mission to end the war and the Bush administration.
They didn't do that but we blame it on the blue dogs. We have a housing crisis, a gas crisis, an economy headed for stagflation and depression global warming, rising sea levels, NAFTA, oil companies drilling for gas and oil in national parks, millions of people in prison, soldiers doing 2,3,4, and more tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, a government engaged in kidnapping, torture, murder, holding without rendition and Nancy Pelosi taking impeachment off the table.
"Two weeks ago, the House took a bold step demanding accountability for the Bush/Cheney Administration by holding former White House Council Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten in Contempt of Congress for blatantly ignoring congressional subpoenas for over 8 months.
Though it was not a surprise, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, wrote a letter to the House of Representatives stating that he refuses to call a Grand Jury to enforce those contempt citations.
The Attorney General's letter, effectively claiming that members of the executive branch are immune from congressional subpoenas, calls for quick action.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Judiciary Chairman Conyers have smartly decided to pursue a civil lawsuit to force Bolton and Miers to appear before Congress. We should pursue a lawsuit – but I think we can do even more.
While a court may order – months from now –that Miers and Bolten must appear before Congress, by then George Bush and Dick Cheney will have largely accomplished their goal of running out the clock on the investigation into this Administration's politicization of the Justice Department. Even a successful outcome in federal court might only mandate that they appear, at which time the witnesses are likely simply to continue their obfuscation by claiming executive privilege of the 5th Amendment in person.
The House of Representatives must re-establish its legitimate rights as a co-equal branch of government. Congress cannot allow its power to be summarily ignored and justice delayed.
The House was correct to hold these renegade White House officials in contempt, and much credit should be given to Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Conyers for pushing for that outcome. Now, we must go further: The House must immediately consider taking the following actions:
- Initiating impeachment hearings that would likely break through the reckless claims of executive privilege made by the Bush Administration.
- Approve a resolution that calls for an inherent contempt citation which would give the House Sergeant at Arms the power to bring Miers and Bolton before Congress.
As you may know, 17 of my colleagues, including four of my fellow members of the Judiciary Committee have joined my call for impeachment hearings.
This is not an issue between Democrats and Republicans. As members of Congress, we have an absolute duty to enforce the checks and balances prescribed by our Constitution.
We have ceded too much for too long, enabling George W. Bush to assume a unitary imperial Presidency. It is long past time to secure accountability for those who have, by all appearances, committed significant breaches of our laws and trust.
Mukasey's claims are simply the latest in a long line of outlandish legal arguments ranging from the idea that we can selectively cherry-pick from torture laws to the concept that the Vice President is no longer part of the Executive Branch (except, of course, when he needs to claim Executive Privilege)."
Congressman Robert Wexler
I'm wondering if rather than President we ought to be focusing on who is running for Congress and what their position is on impeachment.
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