Promoted by Steven D. A good letter deserving of being emailed to your friends and family. And to your Dem members of Congress, too.
Below the fold, the text of a letter I sent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
Madam Speaker,
As a registered Democrat in the state of Massachusetts, I contact you not as a California 8th district constituent, but as a citizen of the United States first, and a party member second. I have already contacted my representative, congressman Capuano, with these concerns.
Our president and vice president have committed grave crimes against the republic and the office of the Presidency. The most obvious and recent was the commutation of Scooter Libby, Vice President Cheney’s aide, after a jury convicted and a judge sentenced him to a standard 30 month jail sentence for his crime of perjury and obstruction of justice. These are felonies. But President Bush, while admitting that Mr. Libby broke the law, commuted his sentence anyway – even though he has never done so before for anyone else convicted of the same crime. Citizens must conclude then that rule of law is only for those without friends in the White House.
This is more than just the appearance of conflict of interest. It undermines the whole judicial system. Rule of law has been tarnished at the very top. One could detail any number of other examples where the president has flaunted law, but this is instance is so obvious, so contemptuous of our most basic and cherished principals as set forth by our founders, that there is no more rationale needed to impeach.
In fact, Ms. Pelosi, I argue that it is your RESPONSIBILITY to begin impeachment hearings immediately. If you do not remove those men from office, it will set a precedent that we – the citizens – may never undo by legal means. I fear that we are at the precipice of despotic tyranny. You swore an oath to defend the constitution. Not the Democratic party. Not your congressional seat. And most certainly not Mr. Bush, as his aide seemed to imply recently during senate testimony.
Seek out responsible conservatives who realize the danger to our republic. They exist. As Bill Moyers has shown in his interview with Bruce Fein and John Nicols. It is clear that the Democrats do not have a supermajority to force the issue. But you could raise one with the help of responsible Republicans who would be willing to take the helm after Bush and Cheney’s removal from office. All we need is another honest Republican, like Gerald Ford, at the ready.
If you fail to act, you and the 110th congress, may well be remembered in history as that feckless and cowardly legislature that handed a modern Caesar his dictatorship without even a whimper or a cry. Today, you needn’t hide a knife under your senate robes, legal means exist to achieve the same result. Tomorrow, that may not be the case. Democrats are watching, Speaker Pelosi. Please act. I don’t want to live under the thumb of a despotic state. I am a citizen, not a subject.
Thank You,
J. Maynard Gelinas
ADDRESS REDACTED
Registered Democrat
A good letter. I would agree that the Speaker’s responsibility to the Constitution outweighs any and all other considerations, and that the Republic is truly in danger.
I strongly agree that offering to replace the criminals with honest Republicans would be appropriate, and would truly demonstrate the lack of political ambition behind the move to impeach. But using Gerald Ford as an example … not so much. It was his pardon of Nixon that allowed this cancer on the body politic to grow and fester.
Alas, it appears the Dems are too wedded to the corporate money machine to fulfill their sworn responsibilities. Makes me want to move to Canada.
Many people disagree with that decision. But he is the modern example of how impeachment and removal can take place in a nonpartisan manner. The Democrats will get nowhere if they cannot arrange a buy-in with a significant minority of honest conservatives. And they’re out there. Outside of the inner circle Bushies, there are many Republicans just as fearful of this situation as are we.
A liberal-conservative coalition operating with the specific and only purpose to remove these criminals from the executive is the only successful approach. Further partisanship on this issue will lead only to failure.
You’re right, of course. I remember many thoughtful, principled Republicans during the Watergate saga who made all the difference in bringing that nightmare to an end.
But where are the principled Republicans in today’s GOP? Just how egregious must the crimes be before these honest, principled conservatives step forward and put their country before their party?
I hope you’re right. I’ll keep pushing, and I’ll keep looking for signs that some conservatives out there value the Constitution above their ideology. But I despair that today’s GOP is not the party it once was.
But where are the principled Republicans in today’s GOP?
Well. In elected office… I dunno. That’ll require a good bit of backroom dealing. In the public sphere, I’d argue that Bruce Fein fits the bill. As does Kevin Phillips, Bob Barr, Patrick Buchanan, and perhaps Ron Paul. You may staunchly disagree with most of their political positions (as do I) but at least they’re willing to unequivocally state the truth as they see it when questioned directly.
*shrug*
I’m less familiar with conservatives these days, and I cringed when I read “Patrick Buchanan” — maybe just a knee-jerk reaction to a guy who makes my skin crawl.
But I had forgotten about Bob Barr. Loathed his politics while he was in office, but since he has left office, his willingness to speak up for the Constitution in the face of the GOP onslaught, and the consistency of his ideology has, indeed, been impressive. So your point is well-taken.
Restores my faith, a bit. I’m going to look into the others you mentioned. Thanks.
I came to respect Buchanan during the 2000 election dispute. At the time Buchanan won some ridiculous amount of the Palm Beach vote – a majority of whom are ethnic jews and not inclined to vote for Buchanan. (to say the least) Anyway, when questioned on the matter, Buchanan readily admitted that there was no way he was the recipient of such a large number of votes in that kind of community. And he did it on television at the same time Bush and Baker were arguing that Palm Beach Jewish voters must have simply … uhhhhh … liked Patrick Buchanan. I mean… a flat in the face sophistic falsehood the Bushies promoted to their ends… and Buchanan wouldn’t be a part of it.
There’s no way in hell I would vote for the guy. But he earned my respect.
Unfortunately Canada isn’t far enough away.
See North American Union.
Jay Sevrin local right winger radio host is thinking Iceland.
LOL! Depressing, but accurate.
And with global warming, Iceland will probably be a tropical clime in a little while.
I suggested in this comment a reason why Pelosi is against impeachment. Here is the relevant passage:
I think this is the main reason. Democrats, just as much as Republicans, want to preserve the prerogative of future presidents to lie the country into war.
That, or they’re just a bunch of chicken-shit lame-asses who wouldn’t vote their conscience if their children’s lives depended on it. How many times have the Democrats caved-in when the pressure mounted over the last 20 years?
Democrats have developed an annoying habit of running around like a pack of scared little bitches, afraid that the supposed big dogs will bite them, and the party now finds itself habitually taking what it perceives to be the safest of all possible routes. That well-intended route necessarily leads to irrelevance, and the Democratic Party is heading there in a hand-basket, quickly.
I think there’s a minority of the Democratic Leadership who agrees with this position too. They think they’ll take over in ’08 and use the unitary executive to their own ends.
Ha. Right… ain’t gonna happen. But the threat of that is an excellent way to convince honest Republicans of the need to impeach and undo this whole unitary nightmare. I mean, if we Democrats fear despotic Republican control, imagine how they must feel about us? I mean, in my worst nightmare, the Republicans would turn the United States into another Guatemala or El Salvador. The Republican’s worst nightmare would be despotic Democrats turning the United States into some monstrous combination of Disneyland and Sesame Street.
I mean can you imagine Elmo with an M-16 in riot gear?
like this one deserves to become an open letter sent to your hometown newspaper, Pelosi’s ditto, and if you have enough wealthy friends, to be printed as an ad in WaPo and or the NYT.
Sorry, but Pelosi has derelected her duties. And just like Clinton will not apologize for her vote on the war, neither will pelosi for taking impeachment off the table.
Great letter though!!!
Who’s the subject?!?!?!
I don’t think you mean “flaunted”. He didn’t display the law: he showed contempt for it (flouted it).
Also, he didn’t commute Scooter, but his gaol sentence.
Good letter though!
Are you sure? Here’s dictionary.com’s definition of ‘flaunt’:
As for the commutation, it is my understanding that his sentence was ‘commuted’. Here is NPR on the subject:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11755865
(though I recognize that the letter is not perfect. Someone on dkos noted that Bush, Cheney, and Libby not only obstructed justice, but engaged in a conspiracy to obstruct justice (a different crime). Wish I had made note of that in the letter.
The meaning you want is the one marked “usage problem”. I think that is given to help readers—“this word is sometimes used to mean this”, not as an excuse for writers to use it with that meaning!
But it’s true you often see “flaunt” for “flout”.
Yes. I see that you are right. I’ll make note of that for the future. Thank you. -M
I’ve written similar letters to my congressional representatives in both the states I call “home.” I believe that there is a serious myopia in congress among honest and well-intentioned democrats, who believe that if they cannot expect conviction the efforts made to investigate and achieve impeachment would be wasted.
I have encouraged my congressional representatives to see impeachment as an end in itself, since the evidence collected (without the barriers of ersatz “executive privilege”) would be available to prosecutors in years to come. It is also an effort to reinforce the constitution–from any future president who chose to tread on it.
I certainly encourage all other readers to write letters to their representatives, of any party, to encourage support of the constitution through the process our Founding Fathers gave us.