(As always, patrioticresponse deserves to be on the front page! – promoted by Brattlerouser)
The events of the past week in the Vermont legislature mark the beginning of a sea change in American political power. This may sound a bit grandiose coming on the heels of a defeat of an impeachment resolution in the Vermont House, but is true nonetheless.
Less than two weeks ago, in spite of the votes of 40 Vermont towns, despite months of lobbying by many Vermonters, Vermont Speaker Gaye Symington and Senate President pro-temp Peter Shumlin declared in the most absolute of terms that any chance of action on impeachment this year was irretrievably gone.
The funny thing is that more and more Vermonters were seeing it the other way. Four days after the great final NO verdict, one hundred and thirty Vermonters welcomed themselves into the Senate Chamber, presented a cogent and urgent case to the leadership, and most certainly, knocked some serious political sense into them with our turnout of just plain folks.
Three days later, an impeachment resolution was drafted and passed by the Senate. Gaye Symington nevertheless refused to entertain any notion of a debate in the House.
Read below the fold.
Buoyed by the Senate action, almost 400 Vermonters came back to the state House just days after the Senate vote. The Speaker was obliged to give them the entire House chamber, where they filled the members’ seats and packed the galleries with many left standing. Ms Symington, who was not going to waste the peoples’ valuable time on impeachment, was about to spend most of a day on the subject.
She was treated to a question and answer period like that of the British Parliament when the opposition has at it with the Prime Minister. She heard passionate arguments from citizens who had never visited the statehouse before. Her reasons for opposition were exposed as political calculations that place the Democratic Party above the Constitution and that misread the threat of the Bush administration.
As further delay would only bring more Vermonters to the Capitol, Symington called a vote, and although a large majority of her party deserted her leadership and voted for impeachment, she defeated the resolution with a coalition of Republicans and middle of the road Democrats who are in step with the timid national leadership. Too cute by half, these Democrats think that they will deliver the Presidency to their Party by doing damage to Bush while pretending that they don’t want to. This is the non-binding resolution crowd, the nebulous benchmark crowd. These are the Democrats who put all their hopes in the various investigations currently nibbling around the edges of the Bush administration.
As weeks and months are spent trying to pry Alberto Gonzales out of his politicized Department of Justice, Bush and Cheney will be ramping up their war, simmering their other schemes and laughing at the self-satisfaction shown by those who supposedly have them on the ropes.
Meanwhile, the newly empowered citizens of Vermont who agree that impeachment is a Constitutional necessity are now setting their sights on Congressman Peter Welch. He has been trying to both praise and ignore the Vermont impeachment movement. The ignoring option has just been taken off the table.
Vermonters are asking the Congressman to conduct a town meeting on impeachment, and he is being urged to sign on to Dennis Kucinich’s impeachment articles against Dick Cheney introduced last week. He will soon see just how widespread our support is.
This people power is infectious and has spread to our south, west and east. Hundreds of people gathered in front of Boston’s Faneuil Hall on April 28 as part of the National Day of Impeachment. They are cheering on the Vermont efforts and are organizing themselves to do the same. Fifteen western Massachusetts town meetings will vote on impeachment resolutions this month. Resolutions have already passed by large margins in some towns. Across the Hudson, New Yorkers are starting to get impeachment resolutions before their town governments. Southeast Connecticut towns have organized impeachment committees and are rallying together next week. Maine impeachment supporters are closing in on 10,000 signatures on an impeachment petition that they will be taking to their legislature.
The American people are ready to face the stark realities caused by Bush administration actions. Our politicians are still mired in their sticky systems and need prodding. Last week’s events in Vermont were nothing less than the occasion of actual sovereignty being exercised by the hands of the People. And the People like the feeling that comes with having being heard. Symington’s tortured arguments and political machinations shattered more than a few illusions about how our citizen legislature works. But at the same time, these are lessons that will not be lost. The citizenry is aroused, educating itself, and has become a force to be reckoned with. Our neighbors are getting the idea. When will our leaders?