Congress, Bush and The Real Constitutional Crisis

America is in the midst of an authentic constitutional crisis as the Bush Administration moves to reduce Congress to little more than an irrelevant focus group and achieve what no U.S. President has ever achieved: a true above-the-law presidency.

These are the stakes: Will the United States save what is left of its constitutional democracy by restoring checks and balances among the three branches of government?

When the U.S. Supreme Court appointed George W. Bush to the White House by calling off the Florida recount in 2000, many pundits applauded the action because it allegedly headed off a constitutional crisis. That was a phony rationalization that disguised what is now apparent: the real post-Florida 2000 constitutional crisis is the Bush Administration’s unprecedented, Constitution-destroying lust for power.

The fight should not be measured against partisan positioning for the 2008 elections. Democratic and Republican political consultants will view the crisis that way because that is their job. Consultants are hired to win elections, not save the Constitution. Congressional Democrats must look past the powerpoints of their consultants. So should Republicans, who are struggling to distance themselves from Bush’s negatives without asking the White House for a divorce.

But, there is now no other choice. Bush’s drive to place permanent barriers between the people and their government, to lift the presidency above all laws, must be stopped.

Earlier this week I wrote about the dangerous cultural narrative that frames Congress as an inept community . Our hero myths often include an inept community that must be saved by the lone hero. This cultural narrative has led to a broadly held view that Congress is just such a community.

For those Democrats and Republicans in Congress who remain captive to consultant myopia, I offer this observation. Political experts criticize Senator John Kerry for failing to adequately counter-attack the Swift Boaters. Kerry’s mistake, however, was that his campaign behavior undermined his own mythic narrative, the narrative of a courageous Vietnam war hero. Voters who rejected Kerry did so not because they believed the Swift Boaters and were suspicious of his Vietnam valor, but because of the apparent lack of valor that was happening right before their eyes.

Congress is now being Swift Boated by the Bush Administration. Americans will judge the valor of Congress, not as presented in ads in 2008, but as witnessed in real time, right now. Polls are no doubt suggesting that voters want Congress to address health care reform and the deteriorating economy. A political fight with Bush over the constitutional balance of power will look like a distraction, like politics as usual, like so much partisan squabbling. Today, it seems that Congress is overcoming that fear and preparing for the fight. They are moving in the right direction with the subpoena of Karl Rove and the opening of a perjury investigation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. We should applaud these actions, and pray for more.

The Bush gambit is to permanently derail progressive policy goals by building an impenetrable wall between the people and their government and by asserting ultimate and absolute presidential authority. These ambitions are made obvious by the Administration’s actions: Bush’s unprecedented veto threats; the obvious “we-don’t-really-care-what-you-think” attitude of Gonzales during his committee testimony; the Administration’s questioning Senator Hillary Clinton’s patriotism when she asked for details of Bush’s Iraq plans; the refusal to disclose details of the Administration’s emergency government plan.

Even a temporary eviction from the White House beginning in 2009 would not deter the neoconservatives and their anti-democratic allies. A Democratic president will have her/his hands full cleaning up the Bush garbage. While a Democratic president would probably resist further steps along the above-the-law path, it’s unlikely a president will willingly give up any power that has accrued to the presidency during the Bush reign. So, the right wing reasons, we’ll just pick up in 2012 where we left off in 2008.

The federal courts, packed with conservative appointments, will also do what they can to establish permanent barriers between the American people and their government.

Congress has no choice but to destroy those barriers now. The crisis cannot be reduced to a messy or selfish partisan confrontation. Truth is, many Republicans are as interested as Democrats in saving our constitutional democracy. The further truth is, the stakes matter much, much more than any potential partisan consequences for either major party.

In the end, the battle for the future of America may make necessary the impeachment of a president who is very publicly moving to destroy our constitutional form of government. It may not seem the politically prudent thing to do. But this is a president who lied us into a war, who uses his pen to make laws (constitutionally reserved for Congress) through signing statements, who commutes the sentence of a convicted criminal to protect himself from scrutiny, who believes he has the right to declare anyone he wants an enemy combatant and then “disappear” that person the way we taught our tyrannical and thuggish client-state dictators to do during the Cold War. If these are not sufficient to justify a legal and constitutional challenge to the legitimacy of the Bush presidency, exactly what would a president have to do before we would impeach him?

Republicans and Democrats in Congress can look at our predicament and decide to save their own asses; Democrats running against Bush; Republicans running from Bush. That would be politics as usual.

Or, they can act fearlessly to save the country, and, despite what today’s polls might tell them, earn the gratitude of voters who today might be wishing the nightmare will just come to an end. But the best way to end a nightmare is to wake up.

Congress can interrupt the narrative of its own ineptitude and restore the dignity and power of a people who are willing to govern themselves. But to do so, we must be awake to the real constitutional crisis that is at hand.

Glenn W. Smith is a Senior Fellow at the Rockridge Institute.

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28 Comments so far

Mordechai Shiblikov July 27th, 2007 1:03 pm

Do not expect the cavalry to ride to the rescue of the United States. Since the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 this country has slowly, and sometimes not so slowly, been in decline - culturally, spiritually, politically, morally, economically, you name it. The catastrophic presidency of George Wanker Bush has accelerated this like a rocket sled. Much of the public is heedless and half-assed and couldn’t care less if they live in a police state or a functioning democracy. The so-called mainstream media is essentially nothing but a pack of pimps and whores for their corporate ownership and the Republican party. The Democratic party no longer stands for anything substantive beyond winning elections and regaining power. All this is beyond any doubt. NASCAR and L. Lohan are more important than the constitution. So forget about the cavalry. You can keep staring at the horizon all you want; they’re not coming. There is, however, still alcohol and weed to make the ride down the drain a little more palatable, as well as perversely interesting.

dolkar July 27th, 2007 1:23 pm

Or turn Mordechai’s nihilism inside out and get to work. Figure out what you CAN do and do it now.

billjv July 27th, 2007 1:40 pm

I’ve pointed out before, and I will say it again, as much as it hurts. The game is already over. Our political system has been completely bought. There is no voice of the people any more, and right now the current admin is busy putting plans into place that will stifle any public uprising, using blackshirt rent-an-army drones. This is not 1776, there is a very sophisticated system of detention and deterance being implemented for anyone who would dare try to start a rebellion against this empire.

Our congress has had plenty of opportunity to act and remove the leaders of this empire - but they will not and cannot do so - they are sleeping in their bed.

There is no coming savior for this country, or this planet. The fix has been in for over 80 years, but is just now really assuming complete control. The only thing we can do now is wait and remain smart, calm, and focused while the empire crumbles, which it will eventually. Rome must fall. Be careful what you say, whom you say it to, and play along when the time comes and they are knocking at your door.

Amos July 27th, 2007 2:01 pm

You can call

You can call your members of Congress now toll free at 866-338-1015, 800-459-1887 or 800-614-2803. Phone Chairman Conyers at 202-225-5126 and ask him to support HR 333 and to start the impeachment of Dick Cheney; and phone your own Congress Member at 202-224-3121 and ask them to immediately call Conyers’ office to express their support for impeachment.

“Agitate, agitate, agitate”

frank1569 July 27th, 2007 2:45 pm

“These are the stakes: Will the United States save what is left of its constitutional democracy by restoring checks and balances among the three branches of government?”

The answer is: no. The corporate paymasters will never allow anything or anyone to stop them from owning and controlling everything. No amount of protesting and dissent can ever compete with Exxon’s $10 billion in profit - per quarter! Most of “us” would willingly humiliate and debase ourselves on worldwide television for a few bucks - imagine what a couple of million could buy… a few basketball games? A handful of Senate votes? Joe Liberman’s soul?

Here’s the easy play: stop buying from economic terrorists because it’s “easier” or more “convenient.” Drive by Exxon, skip Wal Mart, buy from no one who advertises on FOX - we have the drug they need: money. Watch what happens when they can’t get a fix…

CBH July 27th, 2007 3:11 pm

This country is getting exactly what it deserves. All you fat assed cheese burger munching patriots…it is time to kick this abomination over the edge. It is OVER guys.

KayWrites July 27th, 2007 3:15 pm

This is the letter I wrote to my Congressman yesterday. Readers here are welcome to borrow it to send to their own Representatives. Good luck to us all.

Dear Congressman (insert your Congressperson’s name here),

Thank you for (insert “for taking the time to read this” or any other opening that you think appropriate). I deeply appreciate you taking the time to respond to your constituents and for taking our concerns to heart. I have followed your votes with interest and am pleased (or NOT pleased) to see that they consistently match the best interests of the people rather than special interest groups and large corporate lobbies.
It is with great sadness that I now write this letter to you. For I must broach a subject that I am sure most of Congress wish would go away. I am speaking of impeachment.
Please know that this letter is not written in anger, though I have felt plenty of that. But I am beyond anger now. Now I am sad and afraid.
Even at the height of the Watergate scandal, I was never afraid for the future of my country. In the middle of the Iran-Contra fiasco, I was never afraid the Constitution would fail. But now I am afraid, afraid for the continuance of our democratic republic founded on our Constitution.
The litany of transgressions committed by the Administration under George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are nearly too many to enumerate.
Only days ago the White House issued a new edict giving the Federal Government the power to seize the assets of anyone thought to be hurting the Iraqi government’s chances to succeed. But it is written so broadly that anyone who speaks out against the war may be interpreted as someone falling under this edict. Yet it was not even covered by the mass media.
Add that to lying to the American people and Congress to lead us into a pre-emptive war against a country that had NOTHING to do with 9/11, the suspension of Habeas Corpus (a founding principle of the Constitution) with the internments at Guantanamo, the suspension of Geneva Convention rules in contravention of all our previously signed treaties and US law, the rendition of suspects to third party countries for the express purpose of torture, the illegal warrantless spying on Americans, the politicization of the hiring and firing of US Attorneys (thereby rendering the US justice system merely a tool to be utilized by the Republican Party), the exposing of an undercover CIA agent for political revenge, and the criminal response in the aftermath of Katrina.
Perhaps worst of all, whenever Bush doesn’t like something in a bill sent to him by Congress, he simply issues a Signing Statement saying “I like this part of the bill okay, but this part limits my power so I’ll just ignore it, thank you very much.”
That George W. Bush is breaking the law, he doesn’t even bother to hide or deny. He said as much when confronted about the warrantless wiretapping when it was exposed to the public.
And yet, Congress does nothing.
I have heard Nancy Pelosi say that “impeachment is off the table” because it will interfere with the business of Congress, that Congress will get nothing done if it is embroiled in impeachment proceedings.
But I put it to you that there IS no business of Congress as long as President Bush vetoes every bill that comes to his desk unless it is exactly what he wants. He did as much when sent the Supplementary Appropriation Bill in May that contained troop withdrawal deadlines. He also vetoed the bill on stem cell research, and stands ready now to veto the bill to expand child health insurance.
And even those bills the President signs, he attaches Signing Statements to, directing Federal agencies to ignore the parts he doesn’t like.
With such a President, Congress may as well close up shop and go home.
Moreover, the history of impeachment shows that exactly the opposite of what Pelosi said is true. The same Congress that began impeachment proceedings against Richard Nixon also managed to pass much needed legislation on the environment, insurance, education and more because Nixon, under the heavy pressure of impeachment proceedings, decided it was much better to cooperate with Congress.
Yet the greatest issue, the issue we cannot turn away from, is Bush and Cheney’s reckless disregard for the Constitution.
Cheney’s theory of the Unitary Executive and Bush’s unprecedented use of Presidential war powers threatens to destroy the balance of power among the three branches of government and eviscerate the Constitution itself.
Those powers Bush has appropriated unto himself he has taken in the name of a war he himself declared against an enemy none can define and which has no limit even unto the end of time.
If this Congress and this country does not act to stop George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, precedents will be set, indeed have already been set, that will make it easier each time a future President decides he needs – or wants – more power.
We have already gone much too far down the slippery slope. It is time you and all of Congress decide to put the country and the Constitution ahead of your re-election. You must remember why you wanted to go to Washington.
As a citizen of this country, I call on you to fulfill your Constitutional obligation to uphold and defend the Constitution and the republic of the United States of America. Begin impeachment now.

Sincerely,

Shane July 27th, 2007 3:17 pm

I do not agree with Smith’s analysis that the media framing of Congress as an inept community is bad move. Why not tell the truth? Congress has abandoned the principals of the Constitution, are are complicit in it’s shredding.

Congress does not need to be defended. They need to do their job that so far, they have studiously failed to do.

BaltoCaveMan July 27th, 2007 3:48 pm

Since we are having show and tell (your Congressman), here is my contribution.

Yesterday I emailed John Sarbanes (D-MD 3rd) this message with the full text from Barbara Jordans speech - I also sent it to Conyers and Pelosi:
———————————————————–
Dear John
You were supposed to be one of the New Democrats, the brave Democrats, who were going to do away with “business as usual”. So far, I haven’t been too impressed as there is not one brave thing you seem to have done.

We have a crisis of Constitutional proportions right now, the very Constitution you swore to uphold and defend when you took your office. By staying silent on the conduct of George Bush, Richard Cheney, Alberto Gonzales, Donald Rumsfeld, Harriet Miers, Mr. Bolten, Karl Rove…and the list goes on, you have not distinguished yourself.

I daresay I could consider you complicit in their actions: abrogating the Constitution and destroying the rule of law.

I for one want you to come out in support of HR 333: the impeachment of Richard Cheney and George Bush, and the removal of Alberto Gonzales from the position of Attorney General. You may not get as far as an impeachment proceeding, but you could at least be one of the people who, by collecting evidence for impeachment shed light on the last six years, billions of dollars and over 3600 military deaths.

John, you, not me, have the power, nay the responsibility to those 3600 brave military people to do this: why did they die? Who is responsible? And only by beginning impeachment hearings will the truth be known.

To remind you of the bravery it will take to support HR 333, I leave you with this speech, by a woman who knew when the burden of being on the “right side” was the toughest place to be. I only wish you have one tenth the courage of Ms. Jordan, but I fear not:
—————————————————-

Naive me, I expected a response that made sense, but instead I got this:

July 27, 2007

Dear [Sir]:

Thank you for contacting me to express your support for the initiation of impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives. I appreciate hearing from you about this important issue.

Impeachment is the process recognized by the Constitution for removal of the President, Vice President or other federal officers found to have engaged in “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Under the Constitution, the House of Representatives is charged with the authority to impeach and draft articles of impeachment. The Senate must try an impeachment and a conviction on any or all articles of impeachment requires a two-thirds vote in that body (two-thirds of Senators present).

I take the Constitutional duties of the House of Representatives very seriously and I value your comments regarding this matter. Should the House of Representatives at some point consider impeachment of the President or other Administration officials, I will keep your views, and those of other constituents who have contacted me in mind. Please do not hesitate to contact me about issues of concern to you in the future.

Sincerely,

John Sarbanes
Member of Congress

P.S. I want to keep in touch with you. If you’d like to sign up for my newsletter, please do so by visiting my website http://www.sarbanes.house.gov. Thanks!
———————————————————–
Looks like boilerplate to me, smells like boilerplate, feels like boilerplate, so about an hour agon I sent Mr. Sarbanes my response:
————————————————————
John:

As expected you spent three paragraphs and said nothing. You did not answer my question, you bobbed and weaved, you did not show courage or conviction. You did not tell me your views.

You, John, are a “politician” and I should know better than to expect any straight answers from you. “A new Democrat” “an Agent of Change” “A New Beginning” - what a load of horse hockey. Your Democratic Party is turning out to be no better than those you defeated, and are scared of 30% of the American population.

John, To say I am disappointed in your boilerplate response, which is insulting to me in form as it is in content, is an understatement. It will make me think twice in 2008 when you want to play politician again and want me to let you go and do it. I may help lock you out of the Congressional Playground, unless you show you are ready to grow up and put yourself on the line, like 3600+ dead American have and to do what only you as a member of the House can do:

Initiate the impeachment proceedings against Cheney/Bush by supporting HR 333.

——————————————————
So, folks, join the fun. Waste your time and energy contacting your Congressman, see what the intern sends back to you.

It is all a show. A one-way show, like television. The days od political dialog, between representative and constituent is over.

Back to the cave, the echoes ae moe honest than the politicians.

Drex July 27th, 2007 4:18 pm

Damn, Whats with you people that write these novellas to your members of Congress? Don’t you know how this “letters to Congress” thing plays out? If the people who screen these things cant get a point to which they can put in the ye or nay column of some position in the first sentence and a half it goes to the trash. NO ONE at our Congressman’s office is going to read a 100 word email and your Congressman is not going to read any of them. Make you emails and letters short, only one point and get to the point ASAP.

namvet67 July 27th, 2007 4:23 pm

I agree with billjv. Who ever can’t see that our Constitution has been sold to corporate America is sleeping. Do you expect corporate America to give up its control over America and give it back to the American people? Read Jack London’s “IRON HEEL” to get an idea of our future as citizens in the United States of Everything.
Hoa binh

sinnerjizm July 27th, 2007 4:27 pm

If calling your congressperson made any difference, their numbers would be unlisted

sinnerjizm July 27th, 2007 4:30 pm

I sadly agree w/ billjv

Its too late

KaneJeeves July 27th, 2007 4:31 pm

I hate to say it, but Mordechai (1st post) is right. Americans by and large don’t care. I asked a coworker (early 30’s, very bright, college educated) if she’d heard Karl Rove was subpoened. I got a blank stare. She had no idea who he was. We talked a little more…she heard there was something going on in Iraq but wasn’t quite sure what. BUT she knew all about Tom Cruise’s baby and latest episode of The Office. And she’s young and college educated! And she’s typical of so many I’ve talked to. I then told her there’s a good chance her boyfriend might be drafted in the next few years. Maybe that’ll perk her interest.

KayWrites July 27th, 2007 6:07 pm

You are right about the long emails not getting read. Short and to the point is best for emails. For more informed thought like my letter, try a fax. (In fact, I attached Barbara Boxer’s speech when I sent it.) I have always gotten a response to those, even if like BaltoCaveMan I didn’t like it. I also call. And I go to my Congressman’s town hall meetings, at which I make certain my voice is heard and he knows who I am.

Look, I’m no Pollyanna. I’m just telling you we have to be the squeaky wheel. Think about it folks. As pissed as we all are at Congress, they are the only people standing between us and a George W. Bush dictatorship.

senorpescado July 27th, 2007 6:21 pm

exactly, i write and call and e mail these pievces of shit from here in SC Brown, DeMint, and Graham what jokes and what an embarrassment to me an educated, well traveled, spiritual, and heart felt person
from here in Redneck Riviera, Myrtle Beach
best top wait for the call, you all know from who and how,
and just kill all these assholes as in 1776, and start over

they are self serving bought off corrupt ignorant mouth pieces for corporate USA

ONLY Dennis has the balls

some day you folks may wake up, doubtful, too much TV,pills, vid games,americanidol wanna be’s and ipods-cellphones etc.

Viva El Frente
Viva La Revolution

djl July 27th, 2007 8:29 pm

I agree with most of what Glenn says here in his well-written essay.

A couple of quick comments:

1) Cheney and Bush’s other handlers know very well the power of legislative inertia - once a law is written (especially one which “benefits” a powerful lobby), it is very difficult to get it changed (Oh! We’ll lose jobs! We’ll have to import *more* jobs overseas!, etc.) You can see this in the energy legislation and the prescription medicine Medicare fiasco. All they have to do is to make sure that the laws which they and their fellow plutocrats will benefit from are in place before they leave office, since it will be very difficult to re-write these laws aftger they leave.

2) Cheney and Bush’s other handlers also know the value of activating the limbic system of the brain (flight or fight section). Once this part of the brain is engaged (Look! Terrorists!), it is very difficult for the brain to process information in the rational part of the brain (pre-frontal lobes). It is much easier to “convince” people that a particular argument is the only correct argument if they cannot use the rational processing sections of their brains.

3) Glenn is also correct in his assertions that the administration is trying to create its own reality in which the congress and the Supreme Court have no real power. They have been uniquely succesfull not only by their selective enforcement (and interpretation) of the laws, but also by including small “legislative bombs” into laws (and exectutive orders) which they can use to further consolidate their power. The administration is well aware of the “nickel and dime” (or the frog-in-the-pot) theory, in which our rights are selectively curtailed not by a single law which would outrage everyone, but by small modifications of existing laws (and their implementations) which accumulate “under the radar” in such a way that the net effect is the same as a single, but outrageous, law (effectively “nickel and diming” us out of everything)

4) Finally, I’m always surprised by the urge to avoid a “constitutional crisis”. Yes, as normal humans, we try to avoid any action which will result in a personal or preofessional crisis (we’re all conservative in this way), although we do like to see current injustices remedied (we’re all liberal in this way).

For a society, however, we do need to occasionally sit up and decide if our current society is the one we really want. We have been collectively modifying the Constitution through laws (both good and bad) for over 200 years. Some aspects of our society have been foisted upon us through the nickel-and-dime effect, while others have been decided upon through great deliberation (abolition of slavery, women’s right to vote, civil rights laws).

I think that we are at a particular crossraods where we must, once again, decide upon the direction of our society (democracy, plutocracy, facsist, etc). Rather than using the term “Constitutional Crisis” in a pejorative way (that is, trying to avoid one), I think that we should actually encourage the onset of a “Constitutional Crisis” so that we, as a society, can decide upon the direction we wish to go, and who should be given the powers (and which powers we should give them) to help us proceed in that direction.

I think it’s time for the United States of America to have a real Constitutional Crisis.

Henry Tyrone Slothrop July 27th, 2007 9:37 pm

I’m glad that firearms and ammunition are still cheap and available because at some point I think that “a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state,” is going to be a necessity.

dponcy July 27th, 2007 9:53 pm

billjv, and others who say the fix is in and there is no saving us or the planet: What the hell are you doing on this website, sowing your cynicism, if you really believe that? What is your purpose here? We’re all doomed, so what difference does it make to you if I continue to write to my Congress person? I don’t get it? Why don’t you just go party with Mordechai, and leave us to our illusions?

Unless you’re whole purpose is to help the assholes in power by infecting everyone else with your cynicism. Is that it?

pfutrell July 28th, 2007 12:04 am

KayWrites:

Yes, I will use your letter. You are aware, they are on vacation starting August 6.

Everyone — Write them this week before their August recess.

WhiteRose July 28th, 2007 12:26 am

I’ve written my representative as well as Conyers and Pelosi. No response from any of them. Here is an interest quote from which seems appropos:

“What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if he people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security.”

To read more, check out this link:

http://www.thirdreich.net/Thought_They_Were_Free.html

vdb July 28th, 2007 5:35 am

senorpescado July 27th, 2007 6:21 pm
wrote:
“me an educated, well traveled, spiritual, and heart felt person . . . just kill all these assholes.”

yep - spiritual.

as hell.

luckylefty July 28th, 2007 7:13 am

“Even a temporary eviction from the White House beginning in 2009 would not deter the neoconservatives and their anti-democratic allies. A Democratic president will have her/his hands full cleaning up the Bush garbage.”

Clean-up up NOTHING.

Hillary thinks about her estranged hubby’s Quick Death & Anti-Terrorism Bill, + Patriot + MCA + Halliburton Death Camps in West Texas + no more Posse Comitatus + a SCOTUS to the right of Dred Scott –>> AND SHE CREAMS while screaming “Signing Statement, Signing Statement, Oh Yes, Oh YES, OH YESSSSS!!!.

Barak grows wood for a week AND THROWS HIS LOAD ALL THE WAY TO WESTCHESTER after the same meditation.

They will clean up NOTHING. They are Overseers on Master’s Plantation and never aspired to be anything else.

Peace.

pundit July 28th, 2007 7:57 am

Who are the Huns that will destroy the US Empire? There is at least a chance that the Iraqi resisters will be able to maintain a standoff with the Bush Regieme.

If history repeats, it will take an external force to overcome the Empire ala Rome. So far China, Russia, and Iraquis have been able to resist Bush.

observer July 28th, 2007 8:47 am

“If history repeats, it will take an external force to overcome the Empire ala Rome.”
Rome did not fall due external force - it had rotten from within, at least Western part of the Empire. US of A is most definitely rotten to the core, including current baby boomers. New generation may carry some hope for rejuvenation, but do not hold your breath.

I also do not hold my breath for success of Bush dictatorship. The whole “movement” is incoherent nonsense: no genuine appeal to masses a la Hitler, only fake imitation of it. Can you imagine stuttering Napoleon, Mussolini or Hitler? So forget about Nazi style Revolution, it will be Hobbesian each for each self and it will not stand. Besides, if I were African American I would not shed tears for that piece of parchment in the National Archives, as princeling George so succinctly put it.

Siouxrose July 28th, 2007 12:42 pm

KAYWRITES: I also found your letter moving and accurate. It would do representatives good to read such things. A staff member could read a letter like that and choose (out of heart) to pass it on. You could succeed. Sure method for NOT succeeding is doing nothing.
As a side note, playing guerilla reporter, last night I went to a little place that has good jazz in this VERY Republican part of Florida. The piano player, an accomplished musician, sat down with me to talk and I was in no mood to play things politically safe, and went into my concerns about the direction of the Bush junta. He said that he had voted for Bush twice, but (drum roll) come to regret it. Here was a vet, a dyed in the wood Republican who could SEE the folly of his vote. When I went to the 911 as inside job, that went TOTALLY off his radar. These people are so plugged into loyalty to the nation as an IDEAL of good, they “cannot go there.” I mean it’s a total mental disconnect even if ALL evidence was screaming before them. Still, I am beginning to see Republicans SEE the light, or at least see through the wool drawn over their eyes. They, too, are seeking a viable alternative and that’s where the 160 plus thread by David Michael Greene (as per 3rd parties) comes into play. These are very very intense times, but such phases always give rise to unexpected possibilities. In evolution, that would be the mutation, in math, the permutation. We’ll be seeing things we never dreamed of, both good and harsh as that the dying Phoenix of America transmutes into her next incarnation. WE–that is to say our thoughts, actions, beliefs, and prayers–figure into the mix.

dahni July 29th, 2007 1:05 am

The Government, politicians, The System cannot save you. We can only save ourselves and each other. The System was not set up for you, it was set up for them from the very beginning. The so-called founding fathers were a bunch of rich white guys who thought Democracy was mob rule, and felt that those with the most wealth - they - should run the country.
The first illusion to get over is that The State is moral or has the interest of the people at heart. It doesn’t. It only cares about perpetuating itself and its interests. The State is not moral, it is amoral. It is too large, too cumbersome a bureaucracy to even begin to contemplate morality.

Paul from Texas July 30th, 2007 8:52 am

I wouldn’t waste time writing Congress.

Blog instead–and for every comment you make preaching to the choir on this forum, you should crosspost to other public sites like youtube.com, online newspaper letters, etc.

Mordechai Shiblikov July 27th, 2007 1:03 pm

Do not expect the cavalry to ride to the rescue of the United States. Since the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 this country has slowly, and sometimes not so slowly, been in decline - culturally, spiritually, politically, morally, economically, you name it. The catastrophic presidency of George Wanker Bush has accelerated this like a rocket sled. Much of the public is heedless and half-assed and couldn’t care less if they live in a police state or a functioning democracy. The so-called mainstream media is essentially nothing but a pack of pimps and whores for their corporate ownership and the Republican party. The Democratic party no longer stands for anything substantive beyond winning elections and regaining power. All this is beyond any doubt. NASCAR and L. Lohan are more important than the constitution. So forget about the cavalry. You can keep staring at the horizon all you want; they’re not coming. There is, however, still alcohol and weed to make the ride down the drain a little more palatable, as well as perversely interesting.
dolkar July 27th, 2007 1:23 pm

Or turn Mordechai’s nihilism inside out and get to work. Figure out what you CAN do and do it now.
billjv July 27th, 2007 1:40 pm

I’ve pointed out before, and I will say it again, as much as it hurts. The game is already over. Our political system has been completely bought. There is no voice of the people any more, and right now the current admin is busy putting plans into place that will stifle any public uprising, using blackshirt rent-an-army drones. This is not 1776, there is a very sophisticated system of detention and deterance being implemented for anyone who would dare try to start a rebellion against this empire.

Our congress has had plenty of opportunity to act and remove the leaders of this empire - but they will not and cannot do so - they are sleeping in their bed.

There is no coming savior for this country, or this planet. The fix has been in for over 80 years, but is just now really assuming complete control. The only thing we can do now is wait and remain smart, calm, and focused while the empire crumbles, which it will eventually. Rome must fall. Be careful what you say, whom you say it to, and play along when the time comes and they are knocking at your door.
Amos July 27th, 2007 2:01 pm

You can call

You can call your members of Congress now toll free at 866-338-1015, 800-459-1887 or 800-614-2803. Phone Chairman Conyers at 202-225-5126 and ask him to support HR 333 and to start the impeachment of Dick Cheney; and phone your own Congress Member at 202-224-3121 and ask them to immediately call Conyers’ office to express their support for impeachment.

“Agitate, agitate, agitate”
frank1569 July 27th, 2007 2:45 pm

“These are the stakes: Will the United States save what is left of its constitutional democracy by restoring checks and balances among the three branches of government?”

The answer is: no. The corporate paymasters will never allow anything or anyone to stop them from owning and controlling everything. No amount of protesting and dissent can ever compete with Exxon’s $10 billion in profit - per quarter! Most of “us” would willingly humiliate and debase ourselves on worldwide television for a few bucks - imagine what a couple of million could buy… a few basketball games? A handful of Senate votes? Joe Liberman’s soul?

Here’s the easy play: stop buying from economic terrorists because it’s “easier” or more “convenient.” Drive by Exxon, skip Wal Mart, buy from no one who advertises on FOX - we have the drug they need: money. Watch what happens when they can’t get a fix…
CBH July 27th, 2007 3:11 pm

This country is getting exactly what it deserves. All you fat assed cheese burger munching patriots…it is time to kick this abomination over the edge. It is OVER guys.
KayWrites July 27th, 2007 3:15 pm

This is the letter I wrote to my Congressman yesterday. Readers here are welcome to borrow it to send to their own Representatives. Good luck to us all.

Dear Congressman (insert your Congressperson’s name here),

Thank you for (insert “for taking the time to read this” or any other opening that you think appropriate). I deeply appreciate you taking the time to respond to your constituents and for taking our concerns to heart. I have followed your votes with interest and am pleased (or NOT pleased) to see that they consistently match the best interests of the people rather than special interest groups and large corporate lobbies.
It is with great sadness that I now write this letter to you. For I must broach a subject that I am sure most of Congress wish would go away. I am speaking of impeachment.
Please know that this letter is not written in anger, though I have felt plenty of that. But I am beyond anger now. Now I am sad and afraid.
Even at the height of the Watergate scandal, I was never afraid for the future of my country. In the middle of the Iran-Contra fiasco, I was never afraid the Constitution would fail. But now I am afraid, afraid for the continuance of our democratic republic founded on our Constitution.
The litany of transgressions committed by the Administration under George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are nearly too many to enumerate.
Only days ago the White House issued a new edict giving the Federal Government the power to seize the assets of anyone thought to be hurting the Iraqi government’s chances to succeed. But it is written so broadly that anyone who speaks out against the war may be interpreted as someone falling under this edict. Yet it was not even covered by the mass media.
Add that to lying to the American people and Congress to lead us into a pre-emptive war against a country that had NOTHING to do with 9/11, the suspension of Habeas Corpus (a founding principle of the Constitution) with the internments at Guantanamo, the suspension of Geneva Convention rules in contravention of all our previously signed treaties and US law, the rendition of suspects to third party countries for the express purpose of torture, the illegal warrantless spying on Americans, the politicization of the hiring and firing of US Attorneys (thereby rendering the US justice system merely a tool to be utilized by the Republican Party), the exposing of an undercover CIA agent for political revenge, and the criminal response in the aftermath of Katrina.
Perhaps worst of all, whenever Bush doesn’t like something in a bill sent to him by Congress, he simply issues a Signing Statement saying “I like this part of the bill okay, but this part limits my power so I’ll just ignore it, thank you very much.”
That George W. Bush is breaking the law, he doesn’t even bother to hide or deny. He said as much when confronted about the warrantless wiretapping when it was exposed to the public.
And yet, Congress does nothing.
I have heard Nancy Pelosi say that “impeachment is off the table” because it will interfere with the business of Congress, that Congress will get nothing done if it is embroiled in impeachment proceedings.
But I put it to you that there IS no business of Congress as long as President Bush vetoes every bill that comes to his desk unless it is exactly what he wants. He did as much when sent the Supplementary Appropriation Bill in May that contained troop withdrawal deadlines. He also vetoed the bill on stem cell research, and stands ready now to veto the bill to expand child health insurance.
And even those bills the President signs, he attaches Signing Statements to, directing Federal agencies to ignore the parts he doesn’t like.
With such a President, Congress may as well close up shop and go home.
Moreover, the history of impeachment shows that exactly the opposite of what Pelosi said is true. The same Congress that began impeachment proceedings against Richard Nixon also managed to pass much needed legislation on the environment, insurance, education and more because Nixon, under the heavy pressure of impeachment proceedings, decided it was much better to cooperate with Congress.
Yet the greatest issue, the issue we cannot turn away from, is Bush and Cheney’s reckless disregard for the Constitution.
Cheney’s theory of the Unitary Executive and Bush’s unprecedented use of Presidential war powers threatens to destroy the balance of power among the three branches of government and eviscerate the Constitution itself.
Those powers Bush has appropriated unto himself he has taken in the name of a war he himself declared against an enemy none can define and which has no limit even unto the end of time.
If this Congress and this country does not act to stop George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, precedents will be set, indeed have already been set, that will make it easier each time a future President decides he needs – or wants – more power.
We have already gone much too far down the slippery slope. It is time you and all of Congress decide to put the country and the Constitution ahead of your re-election. You must remember why you wanted to go to Washington.
As a citizen of this country, I call on you to fulfill your Constitutional obligation to uphold and defend the Constitution and the republic of the United States of America. Begin impeachment now.

Sincerely,
Shane July 27th, 2007 3:17 pm

I do not agree with Smith’s analysis that the media framing of Congress as an inept community is bad move. Why not tell the truth? Congress has abandoned the principals of the Constitution, are are complicit in it’s shredding.

Congress does not need to be defended. They need to do their job that so far, they have studiously failed to do.
BaltoCaveMan July 27th, 2007 3:48 pm

Since we are having show and tell (your Congressman), here is my contribution.

Yesterday I emailed John Sarbanes (D-MD 3rd) this message with the full text from Barbara Jordans speech - I also sent it to Conyers and Pelosi:
———————————————————–
Dear John
You were supposed to be one of the New Democrats, the brave Democrats, who were going to do away with “business as usual”. So far, I haven’t been too impressed as there is not one brave thing you seem to have done.

We have a crisis of Constitutional proportions right now, the very Constitution you swore to uphold and defend when you took your office. By staying silent on the conduct of George Bush, Richard Cheney, Alberto Gonzales, Donald Rumsfeld, Harriet Miers, Mr. Bolten, Karl Rove…and the list goes on, you have not distinguished yourself.

I daresay I could consider you complicit in their actions: abrogating the Constitution and destroying the rule of law.

I for one want you to come out in support of HR 333: the impeachment of Richard Cheney and George Bush, and the removal of Alberto Gonzales from the position of Attorney General. You may not get as far as an impeachment proceeding, but you could at least be one of the people who, by collecting evidence for impeachment shed light on the last six years, billions of dollars and over 3600 military deaths.

John, you, not me, have the power, nay the responsibility to those 3600 brave military people to do this: why did they die? Who is responsible? And only by beginning impeachment hearings will the truth be known.

To remind you of the bravery it will take to support HR 333, I leave you with this speech, by a woman who knew when the burden of being on the “right side” was the toughest place to be. I only wish you have one tenth the courage of Ms. Jordan, but I fear not:
—————————————————-

Naive me, I expected a response that made sense, but instead I got this:

July 27, 2007

Dear [Sir]:

Thank you for contacting me to express your support for the initiation of impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives. I appreciate hearing from you about this important issue.

Impeachment is the process recognized by the Constitution for removal of the President, Vice President or other federal officers found to have engaged in “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Under the Constitution, the House of Representatives is charged with the authority to impeach and draft articles of impeachment. The Senate must try an impeachment and a conviction on any or all articles of impeachment requires a two-thirds vote in that body (two-thirds of Senators present).

I take the Constitutional duties of the House of Representatives very seriously and I value your comments regarding this matter. Should the House of Representatives at some point consider impeachment of the President or other Administration officials, I will keep your views, and those of other constituents who have contacted me in mind. Please do not hesitate to contact me about issues of concern to you in the future.

Sincerely,

John Sarbanes
Member of Congress

P.S. I want to keep in touch with you. If you’d like to sign up for my newsletter, please do so by visiting my website http://www.sarbanes.house.gov. Thanks!
———————————————————–
Looks like boilerplate to me, smells like boilerplate, feels like boilerplate, so about an hour agon I sent Mr. Sarbanes my response:
————————————————————
John:

As expected you spent three paragraphs and said nothing. You did not answer my question, you bobbed and weaved, you did not show courage or conviction. You did not tell me your views.

You, John, are a “politician” and I should know better than to expect any straight answers from you. “A new Democrat” “an Agent of Change” “A New Beginning” - what a load of horse hockey. Your Democratic Party is turning out to be no better than those you defeated, and are scared of 30% of the American population.

John, To say I am disappointed in your boilerplate response, which is insulting to me in form as it is in content, is an understatement. It will make me think twice in 2008 when you want to play politician again and want me to let you go and do it. I may help lock you out of the Congressional Playground, unless you show you are ready to grow up and put yourself on the line, like 3600+ dead American have and to do what only you as a member of the House can do:

Initiate the impeachment proceedings against Cheney/Bush by supporting HR 333.

——————————————————
So, folks, join the fun. Waste your time and energy contacting your Congressman, see what the intern sends back to you.

It is all a show. A one-way show, like television. The days od political dialog, between representative and constituent is over.

Back to the cave, the echoes ae moe honest than the politicians.
Drex July 27th, 2007 4:18 pm

Damn, Whats with you people that write these novellas to your members of Congress? Don’t you know how this “letters to Congress” thing plays out? If the people who screen these things cant get a point to which they can put in the ye or nay column of some position in the first sentence and a half it goes to the trash. NO ONE at our Congressman’s office is going to read a 100 word email and your Congressman is not going to read any of them. Make you emails and letters short, only one point and get to the point ASAP.
namvet67 July 27th, 2007 4:23 pm

I agree with billjv. Who ever can’t see that our Constitution has been sold to corporate America is sleeping. Do you expect corporate America to give up its control over America and give it back to the American people? Read Jack London’s “IRON HEEL” to get an idea of our future as citizens in the United States of Everything.
Hoa binh
sinnerjizm July 27th, 2007 4:27 pm

If calling your congressperson made any difference, their numbers would be unlisted
sinnerjizm July 27th, 2007 4:30 pm

I sadly agree w/ billjv

Its too late
KaneJeeves July 27th, 2007 4:31 pm

I hate to say it, but Mordechai (1st post) is right. Americans by and large don’t care. I asked a coworker (early 30’s, very bright, college educated) if she’d heard Karl Rove was subpoened. I got a blank stare. She had no idea who he was. We talked a little more…she heard there was something going on in Iraq but wasn’t quite sure what. BUT she knew all about Tom Cruise’s baby and latest episode of The Office. And she’s young and college educated! And she’s typical of so many I’ve talked to. I then told her there’s a good chance her boyfriend might be drafted in the next few years. Maybe that’ll perk her interest.
KayWrites July 27th, 2007 6:07 pm

You are right about the long emails not getting read. Short and to the point is best for emails. For more informed thought like my letter, try a fax. (In fact, I attached Barbara Boxer’s speech when I sent it.) I have always gotten a response to those, even if like BaltoCaveMan I didn’t like it. I also call. And I go to my Congressman’s town hall meetings, at which I make certain my voice is heard and he knows who I am.

Look, I’m no Pollyanna. I’m just telling you we have to be the squeaky wheel. Think about it folks. As pissed as we all are at Congress, they are the only people standing between us and a George W. Bush dictatorship.
senorpescado July 27th, 2007 6:21 pm

exactly, i write and call and e mail these pievces of shit from here in SC Brown, DeMint, and Graham what jokes and what an embarrassment to me an educated, well traveled, spiritual, and heart felt person
from here in Redneck Riviera, Myrtle Beach
best top wait for the call, you all know from who and how,
and just kill all these assholes as in 1776, and start over

they are self serving bought off corrupt ignorant mouth pieces for corporate USA

ONLY Dennis has the balls

some day you folks may wake up, doubtful, too much TV,pills, vid games,americanidol wanna be’s and ipods-cellphones etc.

Viva El Frente
Viva La Revolution
djl July 27th, 2007 8:29 pm

I agree with most of what Glenn says here in his well-written essay.

A couple of quick comments:

1) Cheney and Bush’s other handlers know very well the power of legislative inertia - once a law is written (especially one which “benefits” a powerful lobby), it is very difficult to get it changed (Oh! We’ll lose jobs! We’ll have to import *more* jobs overseas!, etc.) You can see this in the energy legislation and the prescription medicine Medicare fiasco. All they have to do is to make sure that the laws which they and their fellow plutocrats will benefit from are in place before they leave office, since it will be very difficult to re-write these laws aftger they leave.

2) Cheney and Bush’s other handlers also know the value of activating the limbic system of the brain (flight or fight section). Once this part of the brain is engaged (Look! Terrorists!), it is very difficult for the brain to process information in the rational part of the brain (pre-frontal lobes). It is much easier to “convince” people that a particular argument is the only correct argument if they cannot use the rational processing sections of their brains.

3) Glenn is also correct in his assertions that the administration is trying to create its own reality in which the congress and the Supreme Court have no real power. They have been uniquely succesfull not only by their selective enforcement (and interpretation) of the laws, but also by including small “legislative bombs” into laws (and exectutive orders) which they can use to further consolidate their power. The administration is well aware of the “nickel and dime” (or the frog-in-the-pot) theory, in which our rights are selectively curtailed not by a single law which would outrage everyone, but by small modifications of existing laws (and their implementations) which accumulate “under the radar” in such a way that the net effect is the same as a single, but outrageous, law (effectively “nickel and diming” us out of everything)

4) Finally, I’m always surprised by the urge to avoid a “constitutional crisis”. Yes, as normal humans, we try to avoid any action which will result in a personal or preofessional crisis (we’re all conservative in this way), although we do like to see current injustices remedied (we’re all liberal in this way).

For a society, however, we do need to occasionally sit up and decide if our current society is the one we really want. We have been collectively modifying the Constitution through laws (both good and bad) for over 200 years. Some aspects of our society have been foisted upon us through the nickel-and-dime effect, while others have been decided upon through great deliberation (abolition of slavery, women’s right to vote, civil rights laws).

I think that we are at a particular crossraods where we must, once again, decide upon the direction of our society (democracy, plutocracy, facsist, etc). Rather than using the term “Constitutional Crisis” in a pejorative way (that is, trying to avoid one), I think that we should actually encourage the onset of a “Constitutional Crisis” so that we, as a society, can decide upon the direction we wish to go, and who should be given the powers (and which powers we should give them) to help us proceed in that direction.

I think it’s time for the United States of America to have a real Constitutional Crisis.
Henry Tyrone Slothrop July 27th, 2007 9:37 pm

I’m glad that firearms and ammunition are still cheap and available because at some point I think that “a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state,” is going to be a necessity.
dponcy July 27th, 2007 9:53 pm

billjv, and others who say the fix is in and there is no saving us or the planet: What the hell are you doing on this website, sowing your cynicism, if you really believe that? What is your purpose here? We’re all doomed, so what difference does it make to you if I continue to write to my Congress person? I don’t get it? Why don’t you just go party with Mordechai, and leave us to our illusions?

Unless you’re whole purpose is to help the assholes in power by infecting everyone else with your cynicism. Is that it?
pfutrell July 28th, 2007 12:04 am

KayWrites:

Yes, I will use your letter. You are aware, they are on vacation starting August 6.

Everyone — Write them this week before their August recess.
WhiteRose July 28th, 2007 12:26 am

I’ve written my representative as well as Conyers and Pelosi. No response from any of them. Here is an interest quote from which seems appropos:

“What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if he people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security.”

To read more, check out this link:

http://www.thirdreich.net/Thought_They_Were_Free.html
vdb July 28th, 2007 5:35 am

senorpescado July 27th, 2007 6:21 pm
wrote:
“me an educated, well traveled, spiritual, and heart felt person . . . just kill all these assholes.”

yep - spiritual.

as hell.
luckylefty July 28th, 2007 7:13 am

“Even a temporary eviction from the White House beginning in 2009 would not deter the neoconservatives and their anti-democratic allies. A Democratic president will have her/his hands full cleaning up the Bush garbage.”

Clean-up up NOTHING.

Hillary thinks about her estranged hubby’s Quick Death & Anti-Terrorism Bill, + Patriot + MCA + Halliburton Death Camps in West Texas + no more Posse Comitatus + a SCOTUS to the right of Dred Scott –>> AND SHE CREAMS while screaming “Signing Statement, Signing Statement, Oh Yes, Oh YES, OH YESSSSS!!!.

Barak grows wood for a week AND THROWS HIS LOAD ALL THE WAY TO WESTCHESTER after the same meditation.

They will clean up NOTHING. They are Overseers on Master’s Plantation and never aspired to be anything else.

Peace.
pundit July 28th, 2007 7:57 am

Who are the Huns that will destroy the US Empire? There is at least a chance that the Iraqi resisters will be able to maintain a standoff with the Bush Regieme.

If history repeats, it will take an external force to overcome the Empire ala Rome. So far China, Russia, and Iraquis have been able to resist Bush.
observer July 28th, 2007 8:47 am

“If history repeats, it will take an external force to overcome the Empire ala Rome.”
Rome did not fall due external force - it had rotten from within, at least Western part of the Empire. US of A is most definitely rotten to the core, including current baby boomers. New generation may carry some hope for rejuvenation, but do not hold your breath.

I also do not hold my breath for success of Bush dictatorship. The whole “movement” is incoherent nonsense: no genuine appeal to masses a la Hitler, only fake imitation of it. Can you imagine stuttering Napoleon, Mussolini or Hitler? So forget about Nazi style Revolution, it will be Hobbesian each for each self and it will not stand. Besides, if I were African American I would not shed tears for that piece of parchment in the National Archives, as princeling George so succinctly put it.
Siouxrose July 28th, 2007 12:42 pm

KAYWRITES: I also found your letter moving and accurate. It would do representatives good to read such things. A staff member could read a letter like that and choose (out of heart) to pass it on. You could succeed. Sure method for NOT succeeding is doing nothing.
As a side note, playing guerilla reporter, last night I went to a little place that has good jazz in this VERY Republican part of Florida. The piano player, an accomplished musician, sat down with me to talk and I was in no mood to play things politically safe, and went into my concerns about the direction of the Bush junta. He said that he had voted for Bush twice, but (drum roll) come to regret it. Here was a vet, a dyed in the wood Republican who could SEE the folly of his vote. When I went to the 911 as inside job, that went TOTALLY off his radar. These people are so plugged into loyalty to the nation as an IDEAL of good, they “cannot go there.” I mean it’s a total mental disconnect even if ALL evidence was screaming before them. Still, I am beginning to see Republicans SEE the light, or at least see through the wool drawn over their eyes. They, too, are seeking a viable alternative and that’s where the 160 plus thread by David Michael Greene (as per 3rd parties) comes into play. These are very very intense times, but such phases always give rise to unexpected possibilities. In evolution, that would be the mutation, in math, the permutation. We’ll be seeing things we never dreamed of, both good and harsh as that the dying Phoenix of America transmutes into her next incarnation. WE–that is to say our thoughts, actions, beliefs, and prayers–figure into the mix.
dahni July 29th, 2007 1:05 am

The Government, politicians, The System cannot save you. We can only save ourselves and each other. The System was not set up for you, it was set up for them from the very beginning. The so-called founding fathers were a bunch of rich white guys who thought Democracy was mob rule, and felt that those with the most wealth - they - should run the country.
The first illusion to get over is that The State is moral or has the interest of the people at heart. It doesn’t. It only cares about perpetuating itself and its interests. The State is not moral, it is amoral. It is too large, too cumbersome a bureaucracy to even begin to contemplate morality.
Paul from Texas July 30th, 2007 8:52 am

I wouldn’t waste time writing Congress.

Blog instead–and for every comment you make preaching to the choir on this forum, you should crosspost to other public sites like youtube.com, online newspaper letters, etc.

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