The Question of Impeachment

The Executive Committee of Democrats Abroad France, in a special meeting on January 15, 2006, unanimously passed a resolution calling upon Congress to determine whether impeachable offenses have been committed by the Bush/Cheney administration and if necessary, to immediately begin impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney.

TEXT OF THE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, the Bush/Cheney Administration has proven that it cannot competently manage the affairs of State;
WHEREAS, Democrats Abroad has called for the censure of President Bush and Vice-President Cheney;
WHEREAS, it is now apparent that not only is this administration incompetent, but it is deeply corrupt;
WHEREAS, there is now credible evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors at the highest levels of the administration;
WHEREAS, the keys to effective democracy are respect for the Constitution and the rule of law and accountability of elected officials;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Democrats Abroad France calls on
Congress to begin investigations to determine whether impeachable offenses have been committed and if necessary to begin impeachment proceedings against George Bush and Dick Cheney immediately.

The action, the first so far as we know to be taken by any grassroots group of Americans, follows discussion of the impeachment question at a meeting of the DPCA (Democratic Party Committee Abroad) in Barcelona October 22, 2005. At that time, in the words of Joe Smallhoover, International Counsel of DPCA, "I did not believe there was evidence of any impeachable offenses. I now believe that we have the credible evidence we did not have then." Accordingly, he drafted the resolution which appears here. It will be proposed at the next worldwide DPCA meeting March 3 in Washington.

The Committee also unanimously approved the initiative of Congressman John Conyers in introducing House Resolutions seeking accountability for crimes committed by the Bush Administration, and their coverup. In June, 2001, even before the tragic events of 9/11, Joe Smallhoover had discussed the question of our country’s drift into Imperium with Al Gore, who might well have been president had it not been for the Supreme Court. On January 16 celebrating Martin Luther King Day at Constitution Hall in Washington, Gore delivered a long and impassioned address on the subject. In it he revisited U.S. history, recalling how presidents from John Adams to Abraham Lincoln to Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt occasionally had flouted constitutional rights, only to be corrected by changing circumstances: "But in each of these cases,when the conflict and turmoil subsided, the country re-covered its equilibrium and absorbed the lessons learned in a recurring cycle of excess and regret."

He added, "There are reasons for concern this time around that conditions may be changing and that the cycle may not repeat itself." He listed four:
1) The slow and steady accumulation of presidential power;
2) the administration’s argument that the war footing upon which we have been placed is going to “last for the rest of our lives;”
3) advances in eavesdropping and surveillance technologies which “have the potential for shifting the balance of power between the apparatus of the state and the freedom of the individual;” and
4)The theory of the "unilateral executive" whose authority "when making foreign policy cannot be reviewed by the judiciary or checked by Congress. When added to the idea that we have entered a perpetual state of war, the implications of this theory stretch quite literally as far into the future as we can imagine."

Gore was joined on this occasion by former Republican Representative Bob Barr of Georgia, an arch conservative who played a leading role in the attempt to impeach Bill Clinton. Gore said of Barr, "We have joined together today with thousands of our fellow citizens—Democrats and Republicans alike—to express our shared concern that America's Constitution is in grave danger... I call upon Democratic and Republican members of Congress today to uphold your oath of office and defend the Constitution. . .And it is 'We the people' who must now play an integral role in saving our Constitution.'"

The full text of this lengthy and remarkable address may be found on the website of the Liberty Coalition, co-sponsor of the event with the American Constitution Society - http://www.libertycoalition.net/gore-speech.

Your comments on the resolution will be welcomed by any member of the Executive Committee.