On the series “Monk,” when the detective extraordinaire played by Tony Shalhoub suddenly realizes “who dunnit,” he gets a gleam in his eye and says, “Here’s what really happened….” And when, just before midnight tonight, I read William Greider’s column on the stunning moral silence in the Senate that greeted Senator Russ Feingold’s call for censure of the imposter in the White House, I knew for certain what is really GOING to happen.

Back in 2002, in a column for Common Dreams titled "Balance of Power," I wrote:

A critical shift happened during the Clinton administration. A collective will gathered against the power of Congress and the mainstream press--against, in effect, all the things that we'd always let make our decisions for us. And without taking to the streets or riots or any use of force, that collective will made the decision for the country. Something happened that hasn't yet caught up with our collective consciousness: we stopped waiting to be led.

The reaction of the majority of the people to the Clinton impeachment process was revulsion—whether they liked or disliked the man, and whether they laughed or cringed at the acts that led to the impeachment proceedings. That revulsion was really a reaction to the hijacking of the democratic process, and to the perversion of the most sacred document in our democracy for blatant political gain. We the people stopped it (with the absolutely indispensable help of MoveOn) even though we were, in a sense, far less powerful than we are now. We had not been forced to organize over and over in self-defense against the depredations of our government; we had not marched since Vietnam. We were, in a way, even more sleepy than the nation whose torpor we bemoan now. The response was spontaneous because it was heartfelt, gut-felt. Enough, we said. We’re taking back our government now. And it worked. We stopped a process that a partisan juggernaut in Congress was determined to ram through.

Now the opposite is occurring. An impeachment needs to happen, and Congress is nearly entirely supine. WE must be the juggernaut, and Senator Feingold (a man who now, for me, will never be “Feingold”—he IS a Senator—as Greider put it, “an honest truth-teller is loose in the fun house and disturbing the clowns”) has given us the focus for it. (“Juggernaut: a massive inexorable force, campaign, movement, or object that crushes whatever is in its path.”)

What I felt when I wrote “Balance of Power” was that the force unleashed in response to the Clinton impeachment process was the beginning of something that was going to be essential later on. The latent power of the people stirred to candle-flame at that time has since been stoked to a forest fire, and can become a wildfire. We know now how to contact our Congress people, how to write and fax and call and petition and march. We don’t have to summon up our anger and disillusionment. They’re at the ready. The dissing of Senator Feingold was, I think, the match.

Go to MoveOn to sign a petition they will send to your Senators and representatives urging them to censure Bush. (Senator Feingold’s resolution included a call for debate; we, of course, don’t need no stinkin’ debate.) Or go to Democrats.com (“The Aggressive Progressives,”), where you’ll find a list of the phone numbers of Senatorial “Censure Champions” (grand total: one, Russ Feingold), “Cowering Democrats” and “Goosestepping Republicans.” Democrats.com says: “This is not a one-day issue. We’re going to keep after all 100 senators until they censure Bush—and ultimately impeach him.”

Then, on March 18th, join marchers worldwide against the Iraq war, against the drumbeat for war on Iran, and bring signs saying “Shame! on Members of Congress” for their cowardly betrayal of the Constitution and the American people. Or borrow this excellent headline from a comment posted on Yahoo! in response to William Greider’s article: “Russ Feingold—the Real Patriot Act.” And let the juggernaut roll on from there.

The Clinton impeachment process was a warm-up. This is the real thing.

Linda O’Brien resides in Takoma Park, Maryland. Email to: dakota_linda@yahoo.com.

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