GoldbergBlog

Impede Bush

In a fair and just world, President George W. Bush would already be impeached. His crimes revealed, his lies exposed, and every other impeachable offense would be laid bare and all would be right with the world.

Until his successor took the oath of office. That’s right kids: by impeaching King Dum-Dum, you would be putting a Batman villain in to office. You could argue that Cheney could also get impeached and then we can just go on down the line of succession until we get to someone we like.

The truth is, the entire administration deserves to be impeached. Unfortunately, even if the Democrats do take back the House, they’d have to fill their agenda with impeachment hearings for both Bush and Cheney. If they managed to impeach Cheney, then Nancy Pelosi (again, presuming the Democrats take back the House) would be President. Unfortunately, we just killed at least half a year trying to undo the 2004 Presidential Election.

I have a better solution: IMPEDE BUSH.

George W. Bush has the record for longest time without having to use his veto. His first and only veto was on July 19th of this year in order to prohibit stem cell research. God literally forbid we alienate people who would like to bring our country back into the dark ages. But the fact that Bush was able to go six years without having to use that veto speaks to the homogenization of Congress. The Republicans had a majority, but not enough to break a filibuster. The Democrats decided that it was better to hide than to fight and lose. And our country is far worse for wear six years later.

Sure, you can impeach Bush, impeach Cheney, try to stop their agenda, or you can do something that requires slightly more work than holding up a sign: write your congressman or congresswoman.

People complain that only those with loads of money have the ear of politicians. This is true to an extent. However, it’s still one man, one vote and guess what: you don’t have to vote for anyone. If your Democratic congressman is afraid of looking weak and votes to torture strangers in a sad attempt to provide some semblance of security, don’t vote for them. Let them know that they lost your vote because you don’t have to vote for the lesser of two evils. They don’t get your vote by default. They have to earn it and they earn it by fighting for an idea and not fighting against phantom attack ads. If your Republican congressman is supporting neo-conservative ideas and not conservative ideas like he or she once did, don’t give him or her your vote. The government has only increased and with it so has spending. While 9/11 warranted such an increase, the pork-barrel spending has made a joke of this country’s security and of the conservative credo of “fiscal responsibility”. Your vote is important and you shouldn’t have to throw it away just because it’s November 7th.

But you can’t simply sit on your couch as a sign of protest. You have to write. You have to make sure you’re shouting and not just at people who already agree with you. If you really want to stop the administration, then you have to do more than hold up a sign or autograph a petition. Cynics will tell you that your voice doesn’t really matter, but that voice of cynicism is really an excuse for inaction and malaise. “Hey, you’ve already lost, so why fight?” And if you want to lay down, that’s fine. Just don’t say a word until you’re ready to stop bitching about the problem and start creating the solution.

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