Impeachment!August 2007On July 19, 2007 the Board unanimously voted to support and call for impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Chapter Vice President Bob Mayhew explains why: Impeachment is an indispensable part of a system of checks and balances that sustains our democracy. When strong evidence exists of the most serious crimes, we must use impeachment or lose the ability of the legislative branch to compel the executive to obey the law. This is not a question of supporting one party over another, but of upholding the rule of law over both of them. It is not about partisan politics but about power. The assaults we are witnessing on our Constitution by George Bush and Dick Cheney are unprecedented. They include lying to Congress and the American people about the reasons for invading Iraq, violating the Geneva Convention by torturing prisoners of war, conducting illegal wiretaps of American citizens, obstructing an investigation into and covering up knowledge of the deliberate exposing of the identity of a U.S CIA undercover operative and violating the Constitution by using signing statements to defy hundreds of laws passed by Congress. Impeachment is the tool, the cure that protects us from over-reaching power. It is a gift from the Founding Fathers who envisioned the possibility of executive abuses of power. Without the checks and balances granted the three branches in the Constitution we lose our ability to hold our elected officials accountable. The Presidency of the United States is not a kingship. It is an office the holder is elected to by a majority of the citizens of this country. In that capacity the President and Vice President have sworn an oath to uphold the laws of the land and to protect and defend the Constitution. George Bush and Dick Cheney have consistently demonstrated contempt for the law and are systematically dismantling our constitutional checks and balances. It is the citizens' duty to call for their impeachment and hold them accountable. To do this at this time, with only 18 months of their administration remaining is even more important. It is not a question of removing them from office it is about checking power. Once power is ceded to the Presidency it will not be easily given back. The power of this Presidency will be transferred to the successors. John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation, stated on Bill Moyer's Journal, July 13, 2007, "When the Founders spoke about impeachment, one of the things that Madison and George Mason spoke about was the notion that you needed the power to impeach, particularly in regards to pardons and commutations because a president might try to take the burden of the law off members of his administration to prevent them from cooperating with Congress in order to expose wrongdoings by the president himself", as George Bush may have done in the case of Scooter Libby. It takes vigilance on the part of citizens to sustain democracy. The nation's founders expected ordinary people to take up the patriot's task. Let us hope we are able to fulfill their trust and will take the time to learn more about the reasons and need to impeach. Using those often cited lyrics, "you don't know what you got 'til its gone", we need to recognize we are about to lose our ability to hold our government accountable. Regret is a poor substitute for action today. It is time to check the power of the executive and restore legislative and judicial balance. Please call or write your congress person and tell them to join in the fight to curtail executive power and reestablish the constitutional checks and balances by impeaching President George Bush and Vice-President Richard Cheney. --Julie and Bob Mayhew Contact Information for Utah's Representatives: Jim Matheson Rob Bishop Chris Cannon Background Information: The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure for Royalism Additionally, Humanists of Utah encourages you to write letters to the editor of your local newspapers calling for restoration of the balance of power among the branches of our government. |