Constitution, Flag, and Leaving Iraq – Think Piece

“We are Americans, and in our America we do not torture, we do not imprison people without charge or legal remedy, we do not tap people’s phones and emails without a court order, and above all we do not give any President unchecked power. I pledge to fight to protect and defend the Constitution from attack by any President.”

Let me repeat. Hillary Clinton has refused to back that basic statement. We don’t have 14 months left in which to impeach a president. We have five years. The sooner we begin, the better. And let me tell you a secret: neither George Soros nor Barbara Streisand nor the ghost of Joseph Stalin nor any other boogeyman of Fox News has ever given a dime to the impeachment movement. It has never had any funding or staff or offices. I’ve pretended I had staff and gone without sleep, but that isn’t going to cut it. What if we were to put some of the money and time and energy and creativity that we devote to elections, into impeachment? What if we were to build a major operation, target key members, and place full time paid organizers in key districts? What if we were to commission polls in key districts? What if we were to train a few dozen people in a district in nonviolence? A handful of people sitting in a congressional district office reading the Constitution at the top of their lungs makes it impossible for that office to go about its daily work of destroying that Constitution. And when those people are hauled out, a new team should come in. It is very easy to make it impossible for an office to function until the congress member takes 5 seconds to introduce or sign onto a bill for impeachment. Or if civil disobedience is not for you, what about media activism, what about door knocking, what about phone calling, what about posting flyers? What if we put all of that semblance of civic involvement that we flush down a polling booth every four years into doing our duty as citizens?

Now, that doesn’t mean that you have to ignore the election. It doesn’t even mean that the election has to be pointless. If every American who thinks that Dennis Kucinich holds the best positions but can’t win were to work for him and send him money, not only would he win, but the impact of that funding and support would be felt immediately by the other candidates and by Congress. Write a check to Kucinich with a note that says Thanks for Impeachment! Photocopy the check and send it to Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Pelosi, and your local newspaper.

Now, what about Ron Paul? Well, he used to say that Bush deserved impeachment but refused to do anything about it. Now he says that he opposes impeachment. Write him a check, and then write over top of it VOID UNTIL YOU BACK IMPEACHMENT, and send it to him. If he comes around, and if you suffer from some sort of affliction that restricts you to backing Republicans, and if you don’t care about public schools or public transportation or green energy, and if you think the health insurance companies are doing a heck of a job, then by all means back Ron Paul for president.

Then get in the streets and start organizing for impeachment like you’ve never done before. Organize across race and wealth and age barriers. Organize as if our lives depended on it. And try not to get distracted. You may be asked, for example, to hold a rally to protest another Bush veto. But we’ve all known since last November that there was to be no point in passing any decent bills, because they would all be vetoed, and only horrendous bills funding illegal occupations or slashing the Bill of Rights would be signed into law. I and many others said so last November. We’ve known for almost a year that the Democratic leadership had only two moves available: announce the end of war funding and/or impeach the criminals in the White House. Instead they have chosen to conduct a two year campaign for the next elections by going through the drama of passing bills guaranteed to be vetoed, and then lamenting the vetoes.

We all want kids to have health care. (Well, maybe not Ron Paul, he voted No.) But I, for one, refuse to be part of a cynical two-year-long election campaign that is rotting our democracy from the inside out. There is more to civic participation than thoughtless obedience to Pelosi and Reid. Are we props or are we citizens?

You know, our Constitution doesn’t mention political parties. It doesn’t tell us how to run elections. It has not one word about corporations or trade agreements. Even Britney Spears and O.J. Simpson are not mentioned in the Constitution. And yet, nonetheless, the U.S. Constitution is one of the most valuable possessions we have ever had, and we are about to throw it away.

In six different places, the Constitution discusses impeachment. It lays out for us when we should use it and how it is to be done. Judging by the Constitution, impeachment is the central mechanism for holding in check the executive and judicial branches of our government. The authors of the Constitution expected impeachment to be used frequently against U.S. presidents. They depended on it, because they feared the tyranny of an elected despot.

But, then, according to our Constitution, only the Congress has the power to declare war. According to the First Amendment our freedom to speak, assemble, and petition our government for redress of grievances cannot be abridged. The Fourth Amendment bans unreasonable searches and seizures. The Fifth Amendment guarantees due process of law to anyone charged with a crime. The Sixth Amendment guarantees a speedy and public trial and the right to defend oneself in court. The Seventh Amendment gives us the right to a trial by jury. The eighth amendment bans cruel and unusual punishments. All of these rights and more are now in jeopardy.

There are a great many rights the Constitution has not yet included. And many of those it does include were added, either as part of the Bill of Rights or later. The Constitution was written for wealthy white males, but it was written to institute a rule, not of men, but of law. It was written as a law that could be changed and would tend to be changed for the better. Article I, by far the longest section of the Constitution, about half the total length of the Constitution, provides powers to what was meant to be the most powerful branch of the U.S. government, the Congress. The shorter articles II and III provide powers to the president and the Supreme Court. Articles IV through VII are very short. Article IV describes the rights of states. Article V describes the procedure for amending the Constitution. Article VII describes the procedure for ratifying the Constitution. And Article VI, while very short, jumps among topics, but includes this key phrase: