[Sosfbay-discuss] Calling all patriots to the Constitution: Why Bush must be impeached

[Drew Johnson]

Calling all patriots to the Constitution: Why Bush must be impeached
http://www.marinij.com/ci_6745811?source=most_emailed
Michael Marowitz: Why Bush must be impeached
Staff Report
Article Launched: 08/28/2007 11:03:02 PM PDT

Michael Marowitz

THE TRUE GENIUS of the founding fathers of the United States was to
establish a system of checks and balances against governmental abuse by
any of the three branches of government. In order to guard against abuse
by the executive branch, Congress was charged with oversight
responsibility to investigate possible transgressions by the president.

President Bush's legally frivolous use of executive privilege has thwarted
Congress' ability to carry out this vital function, a task that must be
performed if this country is to be considered the constitutional democracy
contemplated by the framers of our Constitution. Instead of cooperating
with Congress, Bush has chosen to mimic a monarch or a tyrant whose
decisions prevail without public debate because they are made in and kept
secret.

Bush's self-serving assertions of executive privilege only serve to
conceal his administration's wrongdoing in a host of areas. Never in the
history of this republic has an administration stonewalled like this or
has the Constitution been so corrupted. Last week, we learned more about
the administration's latest violation of the rule of the law (the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act) in its eavesdropping program.

We are only faintly aware that this administration has kidnapped and
dragooned by torture the citizens of many nations in hidden dungeons
spread throughout the world. The rational segment of our body politic has
rightly concluded that Bush and his neo-con cronies misled the nation into
war, one of the most egregious offenses an executive officer can
perpetrate, which is clearly impeachable.

He has attempted to create a fascist state under Republican rule by
invading the province of prosecutorial discretion and by politicizing the
Justice Department, by committing numerous violations of the Hatch Act,
which forbids governmental personnel from spending time or using
governmental resources for partisan political purposes, and by stacking
the Federal Communication Commission with people who have tried to narrow
the number of owners of radio and television stations in order to limit
the range of our political discourse.

His invitation to destroy the high wall separating church and state
through funding of the activities of Christian groups and by pandering to
religious zealots in defiance of court rulings during the disgraceful
Terri Schiavo debacle debased various clauses of the First Amendment.

His employment of signing statements have clearly invaded Congress'
exclusive power to legislate.

His denial of incarcerated individuals' traditional access to the courts
and the services of lawyers was in derogation of due process of law and
the right to counsel under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments. In combination,
these actions provide more than sufficient grounds for impeachment. There
are probably many more grounds for impeachment that the process would
reveal.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi long ago declared that impeachment was off the
table, claiming that it would provoke a traumatizing national ordeal that
would only divert Congress from performing its many vital functions that
serve the public good.

However, when Pelosi and her legislative colleagues took their oath of
office, the highest obligation they swore to undertake was to protect and
defend the Constitution of the United States.

There is no greater task that Pelosi and other legislators will ever be
called on to perform than to redeem this country's heritage as a
constitutional democracy from its current crippled state.

I call on her and all other legislators who consider themselves patriots,
regardless of party affiliation, to stand up and fulfill their highest
duty by impeaching this president for the many high crimes and
misdemeanors he has committed. Throw in the arrogantly secretive Vice
President Dick Cheney for good measure, as he was probably the architect
of many of these assaults against our form of constitutional democracy. To
do otherwise is to sacrifice the very core of our identity as a nation for
sheer political expediency.

Michael Marowitz is a San Rafael defense attorney with a JSM (master's
degree) in constitutional law from Stanford Law School.

-- 
JamBoi
http://www.greencommons.org/blog/63
"Peaceable: the ability to interact peacefully.  A skill set similar to
social or emotional intelligence that is unfortunately rare in America,
but can be developed by all.  The Green Parties need to lead the way in
Peaceableness."


-- 
JamBoi
http://www.greencommons.org/blog/63
"Peaceable: the ability to interact peacefully.  A skill set similar to
social or emotional intelligence that is unfortunately rare in America,
but can be developed by all.  The Green Parties need to lead the way in
Peaceableness."