Even if the grassroots impeachment movement couldn’t inspire more than a handful of Vermont legislators, it does continue to inspire activism and hope across the rest of the nation, particularly among the younger set (the “holy grail” demographic, always targeted by political campaigns with never more than limited success). From the UCLA Daily Bruin:
Great state of Vermont, stand and be recognized! I have made fun of you before, but you have rushed to the rescue with the most important breakthrough in grassroots activism since the invention of Birkenstocks. Over the past couple months, various townships in Vermont have made national news by calling for the impeachment of Bush. However, such calls made only so much noise until, according to The American Prospect, a Rutland, Vt., man stumbled across an arcane, never-used provision – Section 603 – of a parliamentary manual written by Thomas Jefferson that forces the House of Representatives to consider impeachment proceedings submitted by a state legislature. The Rutland County Democratic Committee adopted the call for impeachment, which became known as the Rutland Resolution, as did several other cities in Vermont. Rep. Dave Zuckerman, P-Burlington, submitted the Rutland Resolution to the Vermont Legislature on April 26.
Other states have followed Vermont’s lead. Illinois Rep. Karen Yarbrough, D-Maywood, joined by two colleagues, has submitted a resolution under Section 603 to the Illinois General Assembly, and California Assemblyman Paul Koretz – who represents Westwood and much of West Los Angeles – has submitted his own resolution to the California Assembly, according to the Sacramento News & Review.
Details of Section 603’s authorship notwithstanding, the piece only gets better after the link…
Suddenly, town halls across the U.S. are holding impeachment hearings against the president of the United States. Petitions are circulating, urging the state legislatures with impeachment proposals to pass them. It has the potential to be the most triumphant volley from the poor little states across the bow of the big, bad federal government since Wyoming beat the Department of Commerce in checkers in 1962. However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves – once the House of Representatives receives any impeachment proposal from a state legislature, it will of course quash that proposal like a bug. But Section 604 of Jefferson’s manual states that the House must act on an impeachment proceeding before it deals with any other business. In other words, the House will be required to squash the impeachment proposal immediately and very publicly. So it would be a pretty big deal, as far as meaningless gestures go, but it would still be only a gesture.
Some, however, are against the gesture; they think it can only give ammunition to Republicans in the midterm elections. But I fail to see how this is possible; why would threatening to fire the boss give momentum to his management team? Since he won’t be impeached unless Democrats take back the House (and even then, probably not), submitting such articles of impeachment would merely be a pretty good indication to Bush and his posse that we Americans take sucking at your job pretty seriously when it’s the most important job in the world.
So there is something disaffected students can do, after all. Where once we were merely able to call Bush names or to suggest improper places where the president can “stick it,” we can now sign the online petitions urging Illinois and Vermont to pass their versions of Section 603.
And for those who do not reflexively dismiss what the “impeachment crowd” has accomplished (and continues to work for) in this state, but instead genuinely wonder why, Vermont Daily Briefing provides a succinct reminder:
* The President has the right to arrest American citizens, on American soil, and detain them without trial indefinitely. Theoretically, these individuals can then be moved to a secret island prison, a place declared a law-free zone by Government officials. There, they can be tortured, abused, or simply disappeared.
And if the secret island prison should prove, ironically, too public, these individuals can be spirited to a network of more secret prisons in Eastern Europe.
* The President can suspend any legislation Congress passes, at his own discretion.
* The President can order the NSA to suspend warrants for the collection and examination of telephone records, not in the case of a handful of suspects, but in broad groups of hundreds of millions of Americans.
* The President has proposed moving an active-duty General to head one of the most crucial civilian counter-balances to the military, the CIA.
* And finally, the Secretary of Defense can now deploy troops within US borders, and these troops will be slowly woven into the fabric of American life in peace time.
…and of course, Philip only scrapes the tip of the iceburg.
The damage being done to our nation and to real human lives is undeniable, and as such conscience and honor demand we do whatever is in our power within the constraints of ethics and law to speak out and fight back. As citizens, we only have so many means by which to be heard.
As Legislators, our elected Representatives have another very powerful means. We would hope that more than a handful would feel as we do; morally obliged to use the tools available to them to do what they can, rather than so readily play the role of Pontius Pilate.
In any event, the matter is gaining steam again as 603 proponents are expanding their working group and discussing formally incorporating to build support before the next legislative session. Details on that when (and if) it happens…