Impeachment: a Change of Heart

Good Sunday, Bush. I thought I should forward you a copy of the letter I have just written to one of my senators, Barbara Boxer, on the subject of the impeachment of the President. I have for some time resisted the calls of many people that I know and respect, but your recent actions and statements have convinced me to change my mind. Your transgressions of the US Constitution should finally be aired in the public forum, and you should be held accountable for them. Here is what I wrote this morning:

October 1, 2006


Senator Barbara Boxer
United States Senate
Washington, DC

Dear Senator Boxer,

I am writing as a California constituent and voter to let you know of an important change of mind on my part, in the hope that I may be able to do something to change yours. (This is NOT one of those millions of chain letters you must receive every day, but a genuine, unique, from-the-heart expression of my own thoughtfully-reached conclusion.)

At a conference where you spoke in Las Vegas a few months ago (eloquently, by the way!) I heard you respond to a question about impeachment, and I was persuaded by your argument. You said that you did not support efforts to impeach President George W. Bush because the process would take longer than his remaining time in office and would disrupt the passage of more pressing items on the national agenda.

At the time, I agreed with you, but as I say I have now changed my mind. There have simply been too many betrayals of the US Constitution and the trust of the American people for this President to be allowed to get away with it: his now widely acknowledged lies that led us into a war with Iraq that has resulted in too many American and Iraqi deaths, his institution of illegal detention and torture programs, his warrantless and unconstitutional wire-tapping of American citizens, his arrogant seizure of power in flagrant defiance of constitutional law and precedent, his abuse of the privilege of signing statements to avoid the necessity of himself obeying the laws that Congress sends to him as a reflection of their will, the secrecy of his administration and its flouting of the principles of democracy--all these suggest a President who assumes that laws do not apply to him and that he is empowered to break them at his whim.

I am no lawyer, and no expert in my knowledge of constitutional law. From what I have read, however--and I do read widely on these matters--I have no doubt that this President has committed far more seriously impeachable offenses than the peccadillo for which his predecessor was impugned, at vast cost to the country and its political agenda. It should not be out of petty political revenge, however, that the President should be impeached. Rather, it is because the American people must be made conscious of the extent of the betrayal of their trust and because we must, finally, be accountable for the principles for which we claim to stand in front of a watchig world.

When I heard you speak a short while ago in Las Vegas, I was still open to your persuasive arguments against impeachment. No longer. I believe that we have passed the tipping point. We have allowed too many outrages. We have been willing to be patient and trust the electorate to eventually rectify the wrongs. I now believe that this man, who refuses to hold himself accountable for any of his actions, must be held accountable by others--notably by us, the American people. Failing all else, impeachment is the only path to achieve this end.

I have long supported you with my vote and have admired your good work in the US Senate. And now I trust that you, Senator Boxer, unlike the current incumbent of the White House, are open to a change of heart and mind as well as a change of course. It is high time.

Sincerely...

That's all for this Sunday, Bush.