My letter to Representative Paul Hodes urging impeachment

[Silent3]

Dear Mr. Hodes,

I'm writing to you to urge you and your colleagues to pursue impeachment proceedings against Vice President Cheney and President Bush.

Rather than present my own arguments at length for why impeachment is important and necessary, I'd like to refer you to this episode of Bill Moyer's Journal in which the case is presented in a compelling and eloquent fashion:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JxyFeRjt3Rs (part 1)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9xjsijyZI58 (part 2)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bhM076Zb-6k (part 3)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wynWK-er6jc (part 4)

George Bush and Dick Cheney simply cannot be allowed to continue unchecked in the practice and further pursuit of an imperial Presidency. Congress has the right, and more, the duty, to stand up to the abuse of power that we are seeing: unilateral executive power to declare, try, and convict individuals, even a United States citizens, an "enemy combatants"; warrantless wire-tapping even outside of the generous limits of FISA; a cloak of secrecy over the day-to-day functions of government as the rule, rather than the exception; Cheney's breath-taking gall in choosing to be a member of the executive branch when that most suits him, and to disavow that membership when that is what suits him; the contemptible, continued stonewalling of Congress behind declarations "executive privilege", a privilege now treated by this administration with monarchical scope; the abuse of "signing statements" to ignore the laws of the land. The list goes on, as I am sure you are aware.

Where is the outrage? Where is the oversight that I hoped a Democratic Congress would restore when I stood on the streets of Nashua in November waving a "Paul Hodes for Congress" sign? Where is the sense of duty to uphold and defend the Constitution? Where is the response to the will of the People, who are increasingly eager for impeachment to begin?

For a time I had been hoping that the idea that "impeachment is off the table" was a merely a political strategy so that impeachment, and Republican scare tactics over the prospect of impeachment, would not be turned into a major issue during the 2006 elections. I had hoped that once the new Congress had the power of investigation and the power of subpoena -- and a new will to exercise those powers -- it wouldn't take long until Congress could point to the shocking abuses of executive power we have seen and declare that circumstances had forced their hand to put impeachment back on the table.

While I'm now seeing, finally, at least some Congressional exercise of oversight restored, and some effort to investigate the current administration, these efforts seem less than vigorous. Where the administration has treated with contempt the right of Congress and the American people to know the truth of what is going on within our own government, the Congress has so far simply accepted this contempt, rather than leveling charges of contempt.

The time to act has come. We cannot simply ride out the remainder of the Bush administration hoping to make things better later, merely settling for a lame duck Presidency as an answer to abuse of executive power. If there is a plan to act, the time has passed for holding back, for first patiently gathering more evidence. In fact, given the recalcitrance and excessive secrecy of the Bush White House, formal impeachment proceedings are perhaps now the only way to gather further evidence. I urge you to work to convince Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the rest of your Congressional colleagues to uphold your duty to the People and to the Constitution of the United States and begin impeachment proceedings against Vice President Cheney and President Bush now.

Sincerely,
Kerry Shetline
New Hampshire, 2nd District

[rodeodance]

1. nice.

[endarkenment]

2. good he's my rep too.