The Case for Impeachment, Part I: The Conservative Case.

Note: Since I started composing this during the Forth of July weekend a lot more has happened. All of it has only furthered my opinion that this administration must be slapped down, hard, for the sake of our future as a republic.

My thinking has progressed in the last couple of months. I used to be among those who held one of two opinions regarding impeachment. One, that impeachment would be a distraction, a partisan political circus that would get the Republicans backs up and in the end probably not accomplish much except to drag all involved even further down the abyss of cynicism and politics-as-usual. Two, that from a Progressive perspective, letting the current administration continue along its criminal, bumbling, traitorous course all the way through to November 2006 -- and making the GOP presidential candidates either defend it or walk away -- was the best strategy towards making a Democratic president in January, 2009 a foregone conclusion.

My attitude was a combination of the two. But in the last six weeks or so there has just been a torrent of insanity emanating from the general direction of The White House and One Observatory Circle that has forced me to rethink my position. From the Gonzalez mess, to the Libby commutation, to the cynical farce (QT video) regarding the status of the Office of the Vice President, I've finally seen enough.

My attitude now is that this gang has gone so far beyond the pale, so far outside even the very generous boundaries of our corrupt political culture that they are now a threat to the future of the Republic. My logic is simply thus: if the Bush Gang are able get away with all that they have done and if their only penalty is to simply slouch out of office in January, 2009 as public failures, their fortunes and reputations among their peers intact, their futures secure; then what chance do we have of ever getting a decent, honest and open government ever again?

In this first part of a two-part screed. I am going to lay out the rationale why the Republican Party itself should be supporting impeachment. Although, I do not make a habit of following the rantings of the 26% rump of the nation which continues to support Bush, I do pay attention to a number of conservative thinkers; Andrew Sullivan, Washington Post, Commissioner of Baseball, George Will, and the venerable, William F. Buckley, Jr..

Sullivan, arguably representative of the future of the GOP has long since abandoned the Bush Administration. Will, beltway-bound charter member of the Washington Establishment has not, but he grumbles , ominously. Buckley, representative of the Old Guard of the party has bailed on Bush as well and worries with good reason, that he may drag the party down with him. It is useful to note that the president's increasingly desperate defenders have begun to attack the conservative movement's eminence Gris, as "a coward."

So, the Conservative Case for Impeachment.

1. Domestic Spying: The Bush program of warrantless, mass domestic eavesdropping violates one of the sacred of conservative ideals -- or of small-d democratic ideals for that matter -- of freedom from constant surveillance by the government, the right to be left alone.
   
   Recent Revelations during el escándalo de Gonzales have shown that such loony left oddballs as former Attorney General, John Ashcroft, had strong reservations about the legality of the Administration's domestic spying program. Ashcroft resisted it from his sickbed. Not just Ashcroft, but also career Justice Department officials who apparently take seriously their oath to, "protect and defend the constitution of the United States."
   
   For those of a more Machiavellian outlook who might justify this program for it's (purported) necessity to give us the ability to track down (potential) terrorists, foreign and domestic. I will simply ask this question: if it remains legal and unpunished, how would you feel about it if it were under the control of the Hillary Clinton White House?
   
   This program is by all appearances an unconstitutional threat to the values and principles of the United States. It is in opposition to good conservative values and the administration's failure to justify its necessity or to testify to its breadth and extent certainly qualifies as a potential high crime or misdemeanor.



2. War on False Pretenses and War Crimes: The modern conservative movement has always had a bit of a isolationist streak. But practically speaking it has been (generally) practiced along lines of competence, think Howard Baker, Colin Powell. The greatest victory of a conservative president came through his canny ability to outflank and outlast its main rival, the Soviet Union, without resort to war.
   
   During the Revolutionary War, Thomas Paine wrote a number of pamphlets, mostly addressed as open letters to British military and government persons, called The American Crisis. In The American Crisis V, addressed to General William Howe, Paine wrote:
   

   
   "If there is a sin superior to every other, it is that of willful and offensive war. Most other sins are circumscribed within narrow limits, that is, the power of one man cannot give them a very general extension, and many kinds of sins have only a mental existence from which no infection arises; but he who is the author of a war, lets loose the whole contagion of hell, and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death."
   

   
   
   The invasion of Iraq, based on lies is bad enough. But multiple war crimes have been committed there, from Abu Ghraib to many instances of willful civilian murders. Open source records, especially those from General Taguba, indicate that these violations of both federal, military and international laws took place with the sure knowledge and probable approval of the highest levels of the Administration.
   
   The invasion itself, in both its motives and its execution was clearly in opposition to conservative values. The behavior of the U.S. in Iraq and our crimes there have severely eroded our international standing, but more than that, have put all American soldiers, sailors and airmen at risk. Just ask the families of the two poor troopers who were captured in battle last month.
   


3. Suspension of Habeus Corpus & Extra-Judicial Detentions: "The Great Writ," habeus corpus, which is latin for, "produce the body," simply states that the government cannot imprison a person without having to bring the suspect before a judge in open court and justify the charges against him/her. It is one of the fundamental building blocks not only of the American justice system, but that of most civilized nations.
   
   The idea that a government can simply pick a person up off the street and throw them into jail indefinitely with no need to give justification to anyone outside the government is simply abhorrent to the civilized mind. Whether that person is a citizen of the country in question or not is irrelevant. If the United States wishes to have decent relations with its neighbors in the world it must abide by the rules of global society, which say that only dictatorships and barbarian states do such things.
   
   No law or policy put forward by this administration has withstood judicial scrutiny with regards to the one American citizen thus treated, or to those in Guantanamo. The status of those who have disappeared into the national security apparatus cannot even be discussed because it is so top secret.
   
   Again, for those who might justify this on its purported necessity, one simply has to ask the question, how will you feel about it when these powers are in the hands of those whose political aims you oppose? For example, what if, under some future liberal administration the scope of "potential terrorist" is expanded to include those who possess automatic weapons?
   
   No, these violations of our constitution are too egregious to permit any administration to continue to wield them.
   

That is merely the reading of the high crimes and misdemeanors. From open source materials alone, there is ample substance there for the average American to conclude that George Bush and Dick Cheney are answerable for serious offences against the American people and their Constitution. It would be up to the Senate to determine guilt or innocence of course.

Crude political logic seems to me to indicate that if the conservative movement wishes to remain relevant in American politics they should lead or at least be vocal from the rear in forcing this Administration to defend itself against high crimes and misdemeanors.

The longer the conservative mainstream and the Republican Party continues to support Bush and more relevantly -- those like Guliani and Romney who wish to replace his person but not his policies -- the less likely they are to ever hold power again in this country (by any legitimate means) for the foreseeable future.

But a movement to impeach, abetted and supported by leading conservatives would send a strong signal to the nation that the movement and the party has had enough and absolutely rejects the methods, policies and criminality of the Bush Gang and their brand of "conservatism." The "conservatism" of George Bush and Dick Cheney bears no resemblance to the conservatism of Goldwater, Buckley or even Bush The Elder. It resembles Franco much more so than Regan. Its continued existence should be considered a threat to all people who value individual liberty, economic liberty and the American experiment.

It being the 4th of July and all, let's close with another example of prose from that great Patriot, Thomas Paine, from the The American Crisis: I, which he wrote supporting the Revolution:

"Let them call me rebel and welcome, I feel no concern from it; but I should suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul by swearing allegiance to one whose character is that of a sottish, stupid, stubborn, worthless, brutish man. I conceive likewise a horrid idea in receiving mercy from a being, who at the last day shall be shrieking to the rocks and mountains to cover him, and fleeing with terror from the orphan, the widow, and the slain of America."