From tipping point: I Have an Impeachment Dream
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
I noticed the following post over on Daily Kos. Of course, it wasn't recommended because "impeachment" is an unspoken subject over at Kos. Maybe that will change now that the election is over.===============
I have an impeachment dream
by tipping point
Tue Nov 07, 2006 at 07:03:40 PM PST
I know some of you disagree with me on this, but I have a dream...that a Democratic House (and Senate?) will fully take on this President, and hold him accountable for his crimes. Before you accuse me of wanting vengeance more than good government, or playing into republican hands, hear me out.
I believe that our democracy is at a crisis point--
that after this election we will see numerous challenges and maneuvers designed to screw with the results and destroy confidence in elections by the Republicans;
that the President and the executive branch will burn the constitution before they submit to Democratic subpoenas;
that the Republican (minority) will continue to demonize the Democrats with the same old canards of tax and spend, San Francisco liberal, etc.;
that the government will enter into a gridlocked stand-off which will prevent movement on any issue, including security and Iraq, much less minimum wage, health care, and other important stuff;
that the grid-lock will be intended to allow the Republicans to come back in 08 running against a do-nothing Democratic Congress -
Much of this will happen anyway, no matter what the democrats do. So, given this climate, I believe we need House members (senate too) who will step up and be willing to immolate their political careers on the altar of truth and justice.
I don't mean "truth" and "justice" as empty rhetoric or abstractions. With regard to truth, I stood at the polls today with a Lamont sign and got a chance to talk to numerous people on the other side(s). They have different facts than I do -- if I believed what they believe to be true, I would share their politics. Until we restore an accepted and persuasive version of what happened - backed by the force of law - we cannot talk about the issues in any meaningful way. Telling the truth about Iraq, about corruption, about the energy policy will mean democrats and republicans have a solid ground from which to start. Only the law - the full weight of the process and its findings -- can provide this consensus.
As for justice, this is psychological, but no less important. There is a plague upon the land; until we cast out its source we cannot heal. This is ancient, like the Greek tragedies that end with the king exiled, or the Hebrew Bible which offers the harshest of punishments as collective purgation. The poison is in our polis, and it will take an act of ritual cleansing if we ever mean to clear the throne for a new king. Otherwise, we will continue to fight the old ghosts, the Clintons and the Bushes, and never bear up to the challenge of the present, never repent and expiate our collective civic guilt through reparative acts. I know this sounds a bit biblical and barbaric, but there's something in it, not literal but metaphorical. Justice means balancing the scales again, reasserting the law of consequences (which has atrophied so badly). If we ignore this, we authorize the worst of our leaders to give it another shot.
Nonetheless, it may well be political suicide to push for investigations and to exact official retribution on this gang of criminals. The conventional wisdom says move on, forget it, and that to engage in (what will look like) partisan revenge makes the democrats look petty and damages their future prospects. Yes and no. Individual futures might be damaged, but the party can always start fresh with new candidates. So let some of our congressmen step forward and take the hit. They have two years with a stationary target while Bush is in power - bring him and his cronies down with the facts; hold them to account for the unnecessary deaths they caused, for the corruption they condoned, and for the constitution they raped- then step aside to clear the ground for a new generation of politicians.
Yes, the democrats will taint themselves by fighting this battle, but they can deed the patch of political ground they clear to a new generation. That's my dream - that some of our congressmen and women will put the country first and their careers second. Integrity at this point means not pretending that all is well. Politics is no longer just politics, this isn't a game, the "my good friend across the aisle...we're all members of the same country club" attitude (that Colbert shocked everyone by ignoring at the Press Club event) isn't good enough in these times. You can't sit at the table with criminals and just pass the sugar. You won't get invited back, but so what?
