When the Madison Common Council meets tonight, it'll be considering, among other items, a resolution calling for Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney. Scott Milfred of the Wisconsin State Journal came down against the resolution, labeled it a waste of time, and predictably laid all the blame at the doorstep of Progressive Dane. For its part, PD has pointed out the error of Mr. Milfred's assertion as has party co-chair Lukas Diaz at his blog. In light of this, the proprietor of Caffeinated Politics and Councilman Tim Gruber have publicly written in favor of the disputed resolution.
There certainly seems to be no love lost at all between Bush & Co. and the various Madison players mentioned above. Everyone seems to agree that Bush has, in the words of Benjamin Franklin, "rendered himself obnoxious", but nary a mention is made castigating Congress. The Founding Fathers knew very well that the Executive Branch would be subject to men who sought to consolidate power. As Edmund Randolph noted:
The Executive will have great opportunitys of abusing his power; particularly in time of war when the military force, and in some respects the public money will be in his hands. Should no regular punishment be provided it will be irregularly inflicted by tumults & insurrections.
The ability to impeach is in our Constitution precisely because of a long line of men of which Bush is only a recent incarnation. (Though most of them were worse than our current president.) Human history is beset by men grabbing power, claiming authority, or in other ways dictating policy that is unmediated. For better or for worse, we do things by committee in this country, not by Executive fiat. The second that the words "impeachment is off the table" fell from Nancy Pilosi's lips, she should have been charged with dereliction of duty and removed from office. Didn't she swear to uphold the Constitution and not the Democratic party line? Our own senator, Russ Feingold, thinks that Bush and Cheney "may well have committed impeachable offenses", but steadfastly refuses to champion impeachment because he feels the Congress is unable to multitask. The only palliative the Democrats can offer is "ride the storm out". Well, REO Speedwagon song titles just don't cut it.
The resolution before our Common Council is not so much an anti-Bush statement as much as an attempt to implore the House of Representatives to do its Constitutionally-mandated job and hold the Executive Branch accountable for its high crimes and misdemeanors. Bush and his toadies are certainly worthy of vitriol and the criticism of the above-cited bloggers, but I am disappointed that my fellow Madisonians did not direct some at Congress. Milfred wrote: "Remember that Bush is leaving office anyway in little more than a year. By the time he were impeached, he'd already be gone." How many more heinous precedents are you willing to let be established to be taken advantage of by a future John Yoo, Mr. Milfred? Sixteen months is long enough for Bush to inflict more damage. Even if Bush were to actually protect our Constitution starting today and for the rest of his presidency, the damage has been done and it is compounded by a Congress who refuses to even consider impeachment, thusly allowing the dangerous precedents to stand. Riding the storm out, Mr. Milfred, does absolutely nothing to send a message to future executives that power grabs are unacceptable and will not be tolerated here. What did Edmund Burke tells us happens when good men do nothing? It is you, not the lefty politicos you berate, who are in the make-believe club. You are the one who takes the trolley trip into some la-la land where, once Bush is gone, our government suddenly becomes inundated with good, honorable men and women and where vigilance is unnecessary.
I'm not a big fan of local governments making proclamations on national policy but the resolution to be considered is not a policy, per se. It is not about trying to get Congress to vote the Lefty way. It's about getting Congress to do something that transcends party lines and something we all can agree upon - its job. For this, our Common Council can take a wee bit more time tonight.
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