Enough words have been written. Enough fists have been shaken. Enough blogs have been posted. The time has come to stop talking, get off our asses and peacefully demand the impeachment of both Cheney and Bush. It is unthinkable that we continue tolerating the president, the despotic vice president, their judicial-activist stooges, the forgetful attorney general and his band of theocratic extremists as they destroy our Constitution. Our leaders persist beyond reason in the perpetual Iraq War and terrorize the American people with incessant warnings about over-hyped or nonexistent attacks. They wage psychological warfare on us more effectively than the terrorists hiding in Pakistani caves. They attack their domestic political enemies by any means necessary, the law be damned, and then insulate themselves from accountability. They defile the U.S. Constitution, endangering the most ingenious human rights document ever written, to perpetuate their own unchecked power.
If you’re in the D.C. area, come to Lafayette Park on the north side of the White House on Saturday, July 21, at 1 p.m. Demand change. Bring friends and relatives. Come back each weekend. The vigil will grow, and the media will pay attention. Television news organizations need pictures, and there have been precious few images that capture the rising anger of Americans over this administration’s lawless arrogance. The cameras are already in place nearby on the White House lawn. All we need to do is gather and give the photographers a reason to turn them our way.
Why is this necessary? Congress talks a good game, but the Democratic majority is paralyzed by fear of a mistake that may endanger the party's drive to win the presidency and maintain control of both houses in 2008. Perhaps the vigil will help inspire leaders in Congress to find their nerve.
The mainstream media and the blogosphere have failed to elicit grassroots action other than communal hand-wringing. Passionate, painstaking editorials, angry op-ed columns, e-mails to the White House, lopsided public opinion polls, even the electrifying message sent to Bush in November’s Democratic victory in Congress -- nothing has swayed this administration.
The Bushies control the game because they will break any law that stands in their way. If relief is sought in the courts, it's isn't likely to succeed. Bush has packed the high court with reactionary allies. Last month his appointees ended the Supreme Court term by unleashing a frightening assault on principles we thought were enshrined in our jurisprudence. Is there any doubt that the inevitable constitutional confrontation between the executive and legislative branches over subpoenas or prosecutor firings will be appealed to the high court and decided in favor of Bush and his expansive idea of executive power? It’s the same court that put him in office in the first place seven years ago, and the justices have only become more conservative since then.
Yet here we are, a growing majority of Americans who are sick of the bald-faced lies, the astonishing waste of public resources, the incompetence, the obscene spying on our own people, the idea that war is always better than diplomacy, the rampant secrecy, the power-mad signing statements, the dismissal of science and evidence in favor of belief and dogma, the calculated political divisiveness, the avaricious energy policy, the vice president running amok, the smear campaigns, the deranged health policies and, most importantly, the sneering, utter disregard for the rule of law.
How can we channel our outrage? Simple. Go to Lafayette Park on Saturdays starting July 21. Be a visible symbol of protest. Tell Bush and Cheney that we live in a nation of laws, not a monarchy. Tell America that we should use the impeachment powers written into our Constitution as the Founders intended. They weren't afraid of it, and neither should we be. Support the rule of law. Use the checks and balances that the Founders wisely gave us.
Your presence in Lafayette Park won’t endorse a candidate or a party. You will be demanding that our leaders protect and defend the Constitution from this cancer on the presidency, which is destroying values that once made the United States the envy of the world. Our nation’s future is at stake, and our leaders in Congress aren’t listening yet.
Let the world see your faces, hear your voices and count your noses. Bring your children. Teach them that complacency is complicity.
