I won’t pretend that I don’t hope to see a Dem in the presidency in 2008. But that’s not why I think we need to impeach Bush and Cheney (et al). After all, I don’t think there’s much difference between Dems and Pubs. When you come right down to it, both parties are in the pocket of the corporatocracy, or – more specifically – in the pocket of the military/industrial/complex. Right now, the Democrats are just as busy as the GOP at greasing the wheels for war with Iran. On both sides of the aisle, the money comes from those who benefit from Empire and from War. Barring a massive rise up by the citizenry (not a moment too soon), that won’t change in 2008.
But what we CAN change in 2007 is this: we can roll back the precedents for tyranical presidential power established by W, with considerable help from his recent predecessors. By impeaching the Bush administration, we can establish new precedent. We can affirm that
lying the Nation into war is intolerable;
war of aggression is intolerable;
shoving aside Genava is intolerable;
sanctioning torture is intolerable;
shoving aside UN agreements is intolerable;
imprisonment without due process is intolerable;
warrantless domestic spying is intolerable;
politicization of the justice department is intolerable;
politicization of other federal departments is intolerable;
defying Congress through signing statements is intolerable;
defying Congressional subpeonas is intolerable;
lying to Congress is intolerable;
denying the explicit powers given to Congress by the Constitution is intolerable;
outing a CIA agent for political purposes is intolerable;
covering up such an outrage is intolerable;
I believe that if Paine, Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Washington, Madison and Lincoln could come to us today and speak to us, they would tell us that repudiating the lawless regime that currently claims power over us is more important today than it was in their time. They would, I think, tell us that we have, in the Constitution, the means we need to restore the Republic/Democracy they gave us.
As Franklin said, ‘you have a Republic, if you can keep it’.
I would rather have a failure like Giuliani, or an egomaniac like McCain, or a Machiavelli like Romney, or even an second rate gipper like Thompson in the Oval Office in 2008, if the authority of the President were reined in through impeachment, as it should be, than Ralph Nader or Dennis Kucinich, if it weren’t.
And is there anyone in the country, on either side of the aisle, who doesn’t tremble at the thought of Hillary Clinton as President, given the near dictatorial powers Bush has taken on? Imagine someone with the same general outlook as W about the imperial uses of the US military and with the same commitment to aggressively pro-business and anti-human globalization processes, and with the same love for the potential for social control that could be weilded by the state, and with the same commitment to privatization of public functions and spaces – all that with Bush’s dictatorial powers and more smarts.
The issue has never been who actually sits in the oval office, though of course the better the President the better off the country will be. The real issue has ALWAYS been that whoever sits in the oval office must respect the fetters, the checks and balances of our system. The worst president is preferable to the best dictator.