Entering the Independence Day holiday, we are haunted by images of refugees, children and adults, penned in cages operated by our government. The cages are not something that happened by accident, not some action taken by a rogue functionary. No, it is instead the express policy of the 1600 occupant — deliberate cruelty.
The shores of our land always welcomed those whose only desire was to seek a better life in a place that would take them in, a chance to live and pursue a dream. Never before did I believe that our government would turn so deliberately cruel and betray our history as a nation of immigrants. Emma Lazarus’ words from “The New Colossus” emblazoned on a plaque affixed to Lady Liberty stood as a as a beacon to the world, telling all from her perch in New York Harbor, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Now, those words might as well be replaced by a “Do Not Enter” billboard.
What have we become? In just under two and a half years the foundation of our democracy’s institutions has been shaken to their core. From an opaqueness that has never before been seen on a scale we are witnessing, to the blatant disregard of law, to full on intransigence in dealing with Congressional oversight, fully aided and abetted by a political party that is bereft of principle and reduced to servility in the name of its leader, there has not been a head of government more worthy of the close scrutiny that would be provided by an impeachment inquiry.
The Speaker is loathe to green light beginning such inquiry, the one mechanism that could conceivably expose the multi-level lawlessness: cooperation with foreign government(s) to subvert our elections, directing disregard of lawfully issued subpoenas, issuing unlawful executive orders and the many other potential “high crimes and misdemeanors” in which the 1600 occupant has engaged. The Speaker has said that she wants the occupant in prison, yet doesn’t want to authorize an impeachment inquiry. There are those who find that incongruous — if one’s actions are worthy of imprisonment, how can they not be worthy of an impeachment inquiry?
A reason frequently used by the Speaker to justify refraining from an impeachment inquiry is that the majority of the public does not now support impeachment. How better to educate the public than with one centralized hearing where representatives call witnesses, and reveal compelling evidence of a president* that uses his office for a host of likely illegal, but certainly improper activities? Balkanized hearings among several Congressional committees, conducted away from the media’s glare do not effectively educate. An impeachment inquiry that will be televised and live streamed stands the best chance of effectively educating those either not paying attention, or in denial.
Some may have believed that things could not get worse, but we have have now stooped further down, down to the level of caging refugees in dehumanizing conditions, those whose only offense (aside from their brown skin, a major crime in the occupant’s view) is seeking asylum and entering The New Colossus’ golden door. On top of all else that has occurred in the past two plus years, isn’t it now time to say Enough? If not now, Madam Speaker, when?