Letters to the Editor
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I Mispoke
If Cheney died of a heart attack or in a duck-hunting incident, it would'nt be Condi in charge but Nancy Pelosi ... and that would be a good thing.
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public vs congress
The public is more for impeaching Bush than is was for impeaching Clinton . As they say , a blow job never killed anyone. Maybe if someone gave Bush one impeachment would follow quickly.
I think , as a Democrat , that Democrats on the hill would rather just let the republicans self destruct as they are doing and sweep in 08 than run the risk .
I can't say I blame them on one hand. It would be an easy win so to speak in comparison , but one can hope they are willing to hand over ( and somehow press for) Bushco for international crimes like those actions that are already taken againt Rumsfeld and 13 others in Spain .( who knows , Bush just may be named)
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Pretty Thorough...but
Mr. Kamiya does a great job of analyzing the American mind, up to a point. A feeling of complicity might be the most powerful force keeping these criminals in office, but there are other dynamics at work, I suspect.
One has nothing to do with being an American, but human. Once invested in a course of action with grave consequences, it is very difficult and extremely uncommon for the human to admit mistakes. The shame and sense of helplessness can be overwhelming.
More subtle, however, relates to the dichotomy of public and private actions of citizens, and it is the same reason I don't think Obama can get elected in this country.
Every "progressive" will speak very loudly about how they are impressed with him, but in private, in the booth, another thing will happen. I hate to say, but I think the same is true of Hillary...though I wouldn't vote for her for my dislike of her standard opportunist stripes.
We are a backward nation in so many respects, with as many of us moving further back each day that others look to move ahead.
Our national character seems deeply at odds with a very troubled past, and a fairly recent past at that. This is a past we have yet to come to terms with publicly, even though we are aware of it, and talk about it. I'm speaking not only of slavery, but also of the way we destroyed cultures to become America in the first place.
There are plenty of Americans who are overt in their desire to destroy all enemies, especially those in the Middle East. I think there are more still who want to live the ideals in our documents, but when the rubber meets the road, the primitive face comes to the front, and we rally around the shit-kicker.
Until we can measure our humanity beyond the scope of one mortal lifetime, we will be stuck with reactionary policy, short-term logic and long-term ignorance.
Since Bush squandered his best chance to fundamentally change the way nations solve problems, and instead reveled with his bullhorn in the most accessible primitive response, too cowardly to be a real leader, to lead the nation -against the swell of angry patriotism and nationalism- into the most promising future possible; we have been sent back 100 years or more.
Thanks for the great article, and thoughtful posts.
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My Theory
By any standards of justice and reason Bush should have been impeached long ago. However, up until the November '06 elections, we had a Republican-dominated congress that did not practice oversight of the Executive branch. Bill Clinton had been under investigation for years by a special prosecutor intent on finding a reason to hang him. Then Clinton finally tripped up and obliged him. Most people found the grounds for impeachment ridiculous, but congress went ahead with it, since it was pre-determined that they would find some way to pry a Democratic president from power.
The newly elected Democratic congress is finally practicing oversight for the serious crimes of the Bush administration. Democrats do not feel that it is their perogative to remove a president from power just because they disagree with their policies, unlike the Republican congress under Clinton.
Despite early pronouncements that they would not move to impeach, Congress has been uncovering things like the scandal at the Justice Department that may prove too egregious to escape justice.
Another thing that has happened is the dessication and consolidation of the press. Independent journalists are the exception, not the rule. I don't think that the press that existed in the VietNam War era would have given Bush a free pass for so long on the Iraq war or displayed the entropy of the current MSM in accepting the unacceptible and failing to look under the surface of spin.
As for the people? Well, I didn't vote for Bush in 2000 or 2004, and it remains an open question whether he won either election fair and square. His supporters are a diverse group and not all are stupid. Some just give the benefit of the doubt to those in authority who claim to represent their values. Many others are from the raw-meat crowd that is fueled by anger and resentment. Those two groups are naive. His real supporters are the fossil-fuel industry and the Military Industrial Complex that Eisenhower warned about.
I believe that to honor the rule of law, the integrity of the Constitution, and the continuing validity of America's founding principals Bush and Cheney must be impeached. If the people demand it loudly enough, it will happen. The Congress and the press are not going to drive an impeachment effort this time around.
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Until the Siege is Over
It's inevitable this would be the most spirited discussion in awhile, and while it is impressive that so many great ideas from some of the best contributors have been recommended, I am afraid the most salient issue is being missed.
Until proven otherwise, the ruling coalition in this country is the 30 million voters who loyally support neo-conservatism, and whoever or whatever is the most reactionary cause or candidate.
The midterm elections simply do not count the way the presidential does. The election in '04, after the WMD revelations shows who rules the roost. It is disconcerting to see so many still not coming to terms with the real issue, and it bodes poorly for '08. There is nothing comparable to the power of the "pulpet," and that is what they've got going for them--and when the chips are down--they know when it's time to get out the vote.
The NYTIMES had a piece yesterday about a "new breed" of fundmentalist preachers who have another agenda, and numerious attempts are being made to point these voters in other directions--but the only real proof anything works is the election.
I have written about the problem of solidarity among the Democrats and Liberals before. The fact that THEY HAVE NOTHING COMPARABLE on an organizational level is the problem, and while the blogland pundits keep whirling around in circles above the fray--it is going to come down to party identification in the next election.
I think Gary is slowly coming to this recognition since he has begun to take into account the "voters" in his analysis. Impeachment will depend on what, if any, more information is forthcoming about the betrayal of the VOTING ELECTORATE by Bush and his gang of thieves.
In the end, it's going be about whether more "independent intellectuals" are going to get out of their heads enough to stop being perfect ideologically--and start voting Democratic at least until the siege of the American government by the right wing is over.