Whether elected or appointed
He considers himself the Lord’s annointed,
And indeed the ointment lingers on him
So thick you can’t get your fingers on him. (Ogden Nash, The Politician)
Some people think that proponents of impeachment are extremists. But according to this Newsweek poll taken in October, about half the people in the country would like to see it happen. There is nothing extreme about prosecuting criminals. It’s our civic duty to send Bush to the principal’s office. What purpose would it serve? It would let future presidents know that they can’t play around with the Constitution, selectively ignore our civil rights, violate international law, run the country according to their own extremist ideologicical agendas, fill the already bulging pockets of pals while ignoring the needs of the people (30 million Americans go to bed hungry every day while billions have been spent on the Iraq abomination)… I could go on, but you (may) have heard it all before.
And of course I know our government is faced with much more grave and pressing issues, the most important of which is getting out of Iraq. I’m not an idiot. But just because you have to go grocery shopping, get the kid to soccer, and make dinner doesn’t mean you can ignore the dirty laundry! Same goes for our government. That’s why we pay ‘em the big bucks. I also know we don’t have enough votes in Congress to impeach right now. They didn’t have them when impeachment proceedings started against Nixon either. But they got ‘em as the evidence came to light.
If nothing else, at least express your discontent! There is a way to make a strong statement. Whether or not it leads to impeachment is irrelevant.
Impeach for Peace has researched a method for impeaching the president using a little known and rarely used part of the Rules of the House of Representatives (“Jefferson’s Manual”). This document actually empowers individual citizens to initiate the impeachment process themselves.
“Jefferson’s Manual” is an interpretive guide to parliamentary procedure, and is included (along with the Constitution) in the bound volumes of the Rules of the House of Representatives. It is ratified by each congress (including the current one), and has been updated continuously through the history of our democracy.
The section covering impeachment lists the acceptable vehicles for bringing impeachment motions to the floor of the House. Before the House Judiciary Committee can put together the Articles of Impeachment, someone must initiate the impeachment procedure. Most often, this occurs when members of the House pass a resolution. Another method outlined in the manual, however, is for individual citizens to submit a memorial for impeachment.
Read arguments in favor of impeachment here and here. Download the “Do-It-Yourself Impeachment” template based on a memorial that succeeded in initiating the impeachment of a Federal Judge. And mail it to Nancy Pelosi on January 15th.
Blind Spot: 1. As of this Friday, your employers are required by Federal law to retain copies of all your e-mails and IMs. 2. What’s your terrorist score? If you’ve left the country in the last four years, you have one. But They won’t tell you what it is! Here’s a list of travel details they collect.