By Congressman Dennis Kucinich, special to www.ImpeachCheney.org
As a member of Congress, I have sworn an oath to defend the Constitution and the laws of our nation, and I have pledged to represent the views of my constituents and of all Americans.
That’s why I feel both duty and sorrow in pursuing the path of impeachment against Vice President Richard B. Cheney.
While the impeachment movement has generated intensely strong sentiment and activism, there have been only two polls published on the question of impeaching Vice President Cheney. In a national poll, 54 percent of Americans favored impeachment. In one state poll, 64 percent of Vermonters favored impeaching the Vice President.
Twenty-one of my colleagues have heeded the public demand and signed on as cosponsors of my resolution, H Res 333. Others in the Congress have claimed they have more important priorities, but have told their constituents they will keep their views in mind if the matter ever comes up for a vote.
Well, the issue is coming up for a vote this week on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the “distraction” will require members to balance their priorities between Constitutionally proscribed justice and recourse and the alternative: Constitutional abuse and dictatorial power.
Only by taking up impeachment can we reinstitute a balance of powers and slow down the rush to launch a new war of aggression against Iran.
I am urging my colleagues to recognize that impeachment will not create a crisis by briefly disrupting their schedules on Capitol Hill. The crisis, as Americans outside the Beltway know, is upon us. Congress, the first branch of our government, to which the first half of the Constitution is devoted, has been reduced to almost a bystander as the policies of the wealthiest nation and the largest military ever known are set in secret by the Vice President’s office. Under Bush/Cheney, we have become a nation that illegally threatens and launches aggressive wars for political ““ not national security — reasons. For this crisis of confidence, this denial of our Constitutional beliefs and rights, impeachment is the only cure available.
I urge you, my fellow citizens, to share your sentiments with your Members of Congress and with your family, friends, and the news media in support regarding the rule of law and the imperative of impeaching a vice president who has misled both the public and the Congress about the gravest matters possible: war and peace. Please join with organizations like www.ImpeachCheney.org in making your voices heard as soon as possible! Every individual Member of Congress will have to decide within days where they stand.
On Tuesday, when I introduce my privileged resolution to force this issue to a vote, some other member of Congress will almost certainly move to table (kill) it. A Yes vote to table is a vote to delay the enforcement of the rule of law aside. A No vote to table is a vote to give impeachment a chance for a full and fair hearing. Please help me get this message out.
Read More
Isn’t it interesting that a popular and competent president was impeached for lying about his sex life. People were NOT marching in the street or signing petitions for impeachment to happen because of that, but the right wing media hosts WERE and THEIR agendas are what are paid attention to, NOT the wishes of the people!!
Unfortunately, most of the Democrats in Congress are so gutless they do NOT see the Republicans suffered a backlash because of the Clinton impeachment BECAUSE the majority of Americans could see he was doing a decent job as president, and that his sex life was noone’s business. The reasons Clinton was impeached are in NO WAY equal to the reasons the INCOMPETENT and criminal people who are leading this country now need to be impeached, and the PEOPLE can see that!! In fact, the Democrats will suffer more from their gutlessness in not holding these criminal people to account than they would for impeaching both Bush and Cheney. CANNOT THEY SEE that the vast majority of Americans are SICKENED by the dishonesty and imcompetence of Bush/Cheney and WANT THIS BLIGHT on our country GONE!! The people are angry because Congress seems to be “okay” with having such corrupt, dishonest, and INCOMPETENT people bankrupt this country both morally and economically!! Which proves once again that the PEOPLE are better than their leaders!!
The same is true of Muslim society. When Baghdad was an open society, the center of world trade, the Moslem world prospered and carried the light of understanding through the Dark Ages of the West.
Today’s Moslem majority are as dedicated to free exchange of ideas and commerce as anyone else. It’s only the radical fundamentalists who depreciate the value of life and understanding in order to create closed cultures which impose their rules on others by coercion.
Bush’s war has nothing to do with religion– it is about natural resources and control of them.
Unfortunately, Bush’s arms-making allies took the opportunity to make a profit when we could have bought Iraq’s oil for less than we’ve spent on this invasion without four thousand of our young people dying. The logic is simple– vested interests control our government policy. A closed society of corporate interest stifles reason and innovation to our detriment as a nation.
So, again, the basic principles of American Democracy, a free and open society, with rights for all– whether citizen or not, prevail as our best strategy for successful and prosperous international relations. Those who seek to control humanity have hard lessons to learn.
It’s not really even about Cheney. It’s about what makes Democracy work. It’s about the best strategy for America. Either we are a free society and a strong ally, or we are a bumbling quasi-police state and an impotent bully. One invites alliances, one invites defiance.
Human nature will never submit to subhuman rules. Every fence has a ladder. Every border fails to enclose. The Great Wall of China, Hadrian’s Wall, the Berlin Wall all failed in their primary mission. Prohibition doesn’t work, it only increases profits for those who defy it. Freedom is the basic condition of humanity. As adults we won’t submit to pointless rules
when it is to our benefit to ignore them.
Mere military force only enforces death, while the elemental quality of humanity is life. We will go on making love no matter how many threaten hate. It’s not the warriors who further civilization, it’s the weakest among us– the mothers and grandmothers. Thus the profound strength of true Christianity, as opposed to the current fashion of pro-lifers supporting the death penalty and war. As government by consent of the governed, America has an infinite future. As government by coercion, America has no prospects at all.
THANK YOU DENIS KASHINCH !
Impeachment of this administration is a MUST, Otherwisw we replicate the submissive ,defeated,
fearfull posture of Nazi victims.