Why was there such surprise, shock and outrage upon the news that President George W. Bush commuted the sentence of I. Lewis Libby?
I actually laughed when I heard the news.
Because.
It.
Was.
Oh so.
Predictable.
And I dare go one step further: such predictability comes from much beyond the current administration and goes much deeper than today's Washington Beltway culture.
Indeed, it all comes down to "We the People of the United States of America".
The origin of what would lead to the current state of affairs lies with the 1974 pardon of disgraced former-president Richard Nixon by former-president Gerald Ford. When Ford addressed the American People, he said this:
"(...) ugly passions would again be aroused. And our people would again be polarized in their opinions. And the credibility of our free institutions of government would again be challenged at home and abroad (...) As President, my primary concern must always be the greatest good of all the people of the United States whose servant I am (...) My conscience tells me clearly and certainly that I cannot prolong the bad dreams that continue to reopen a chapter that is closed. My conscience tells me that only I, as President, have the constitutional power to firmly shut and seal this book. My conscience tells me it is my duty, not merely to proclaim domestic tranquillity but to use every means that I have to insure it. I do believe that the buck stops here, that I cannot rely upon public opinion polls to tell me what is right."
Of course, the "children" were outraged nonetheless but, after a short period of tantrums and such other outbursts of indignation, nothing else happened. Yes, Ford was not re-elected in 1976, but so what? There had been no demonstrations, no pressures on Congress to impeach Ford for this action and, in fact, the idea that "Ford did it to allow the Nation to heal" became entrenched as the accepted mantra.
In other words: the precedent had been set and accepted by We the People.
Then came the Iran-Contra affair (1983-1985) during the tenure of President Ronald Reagan. Of course, there was a short period of tantrums and such other outbursts of indignation from the "children", yet nothing else happened - again. Laws had been broken, officials had to resign over this and Reagan's image did suffer transiently - but no demonstrations and certainly no pressures on Congress to impeach Reagan. As a matter of fact, Reagan's popularity rebounded thereafter in such a way that he left office in 1989 with the highest approval rating of any president since Franklin Roosevelt!
Ergo: the "children" did not want to go through another round of emotional-wrenching turmoil via impeachment proceedings. Everything was forgotten quickly for the sake of peace of mind. And this was proven quite eloquently when, in 1992, President George H.W. Bush pardoned Casper Weinberger - along with five others - before the latter went on trial for his implication in Iran-Contra: although this constituted another obvious act at covering-up and thus prevent all the (ugly) facts from coming into light, possibly even exposing former-president Reagan to criminal charges, the "children" let this pass on rather quietly - lest they would have had to trouble themselves with more "bad dreams that continue to reopen a chapter that was closed".
In other words: there were some outbursts of indignation here and there, but still no demonstrations and certainly no pressures on Congress to impeach George H.W. Bush, let alone to investigate Reagan nonetheless.
And then came about the sham impeachment proceedings of President William J. Clinton in 1998-1999. Not only did such proceedings actually trivialized impeachment, but the American People let it happen nonetheless, despite a clear majority of them being against it. Once again: there were outbursts of indignation (or cheering) here and there, but still no demonstrations, no pressures on Congress to stop such shameful hypocrisy, stupidity and incompetence.
Once all was said and done, especially with Clinton coming out of this with only a censure, the "children" breathed a collective sigh of relief and once again strove to put it all behind - for the sake of peace of mind.
Was there any significant introspection done in the wake of this? Was there any serious efforts and insistence at dialogue with politicians and the media in order to enact changes in the political landscape, so as to put the country back onto a path of competent rule of Law?
Nope. Zip. Nada.
We the People were just glad that it was all over and done with.
Consequently, we now come to the day after the commuting of Libby's sentence by President George W. Bush.
Also predictably, everyone has been busy dissecting and analysing what Bush and his cronies are saying/have said on this subject in order to keep playing the game of "gotcha" - I will spare you linking to any of these, since they are legion throughout the progressive blogosphere. To all of this I say the following:
Of course this is a cover-up. Of course Bush went against his own words. Of course this is obstruction of justice. Of course, of course, of course!
The signs of incompetence have not only been there all along, they were obvious right from the begining.
Upon looking back, the painful facts are plain and simple, folks:
Regardless, We the People facilitated the ascension of Bush in 2000;
We the People re-elected him in 2004;
We the People elected all those Representatives and Senators in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006;
We the People have done squat about impeachment and, as a matter of fact, contributed to and allowed its devolution into its current state of semi-irrelevance, as I outlined above - it is therefore not surprising that Representatives and Senators likewise have had no stomach for it.
In short: We the People, or the "children" if you prefer, have allowed the cancer on the body democratic to spread throughout all these years - for the sake of peace of mind.
Conclusion: Mea culpa, mea culpa, vox populi.
As I wrote before: "not impeaching (Bush-Cheney) will represent the ultimate expression of lack of democratic courage, principles and responsibilities". To this I also added: "not impeaching (Bush-Cheney) would increase the bar of minimal requirements for impeachment so high, no one will ever be impeachable".
In other words: impeachment is a must if the health, the sanctity and continuity of the U.S. Constitution are to be preserved and protected.
Period.
To this effect, the case for impeachment kept being made by itself day in and day out since 2001. Although many have shouted and screamed for impeachment, the fact remains that there has never been any serious pressure on Congress to do so. Instead, folks have contented themselves at railing against the democratically cowardly position of keeping impeachment "off the table" by elected Representatives. Furthermore, how many have been actually arguing logically and emotionally against impeachment - the common refrain here being "it's not worth the trouble, it won't help, it's too late", and so on?
Yet since yesterday, how many now scream for impeachment? Even MoveOn is only now putting impeachment back on the table!
In closing, I would repeat here what I have written before: "our revolutionary participatory democracy is not just about ranting and raving, eh?"
So, on this upcoming 4th of July, step back, take a deep breath and look hard in the mirror.
Then ask yourself: what am I going to do about this?
Time for ranting and raving is long over, folks.
And time for serious engagement in pressuring Congress into begining impeachment proceedings is fast running out.
Nevertheless, competence as U.S. citizens requires (nay: demands) from all of you that you organize and enact pressure to make the critical changes that are required to save the gravely ill patient that your Republic has become.
And the first step to recovery is impeachment - whether it fails or not.
Then, and only then, will We the People have the momentum to get rid of the corrupt political elite that they have allowed to emerge in the first place.
'Nuff said.
(Cross-posted from APOV)
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