Dick Cheney says that his office of Vice President, due to it's dual role as an entity in the executive branch and as President Pro-Tem of the Senate in the legislative branch makes him immune to the rules applying to him. Actually, his dual role makes him subject to the rules of both positions, a fact he chooses to ignore.
Cheney brings up entities created by the Constitution but ignores the most important entity mentioned there. It's the entity included in the first three words of the Constitution: "We the people..." By focusing attention on his office as an entity he has inadvertently focused our attention on the fourth entity of our government: us. He has unwittingly pointed out the fact that he and George Bush have no power to claim immunity or executive privilege.
George Bush falsely claims executive privilege that does not exist. He makes this claim to do pretty much anything he wants to do. Nowhere in the enumerated twelve powers the president is limited to is executive privilege mentioned. He thinks it's there. Our wimpy congress tacitly acknowledges it's there by arguing with him about it instead of just saying that it doesn't exist. But, it's not there.
By Bush's reasoning the legislative branch could claim congressional privilege to do anything they want to do, such as removing Bush from office or declaring him President for Life. The judicial branch could claim judicial privilege to make the same kind of anything goes rulings, such as that the executive and legislative branches must submit all actions to the Supreme Court for approval, or that any member of the court can assume the Presidency at any time. There's just no end of what you can claim under special privilege, literally private law.
The Tenth Amendment reads, without the reference to the states: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution are reserved to the people.
The body of the Constitution is prescriptive. It prescribes what constitutes the government and what the government's powers and duties are in relation to the people. The first ten amendments are proscriptive. They proscribe what the government must not do in relation to the people. In other words, if it isn't about the structure of the government and it's relationship to the people, it's not constitutional material. That's why the Eighteenth Amendment banning all sales and consumption of alcohol failed and had to be revoked. And, that's why and anti-gay marriage amendment is unconstitutional. You can't include relationships between people in the constitution. That's the exclusive province of the law.
The Tenth Amendment delegates certain powers and only those powers to the government and reserves all the rest to us, we the people. This means that no one in government can claim executive privilege because that power is not delegated to them. It also means that we the people have the power of privilege reserved to us. It's our power to use at anytime and in any way we choose. The constitution says so. It's The People's Privilege.
So, lelt's take the power the constitution gives us and exercise it. Anytime anyone in government attempts to force us into doing anything that is not specified as being within the constitutional power of the government to do, we invoke The People's Privilege, and say, "Sorry, can't do it. It's not within your constitutional power to require it." And, let's exercise those unspecified powers reserved to us but not the government to get our government back under the control of the people by demanding the removal of George Bush and his entire administration from our government. It's within our power under The People's Privilege.
Using Alberto Gonzales' interpretation of the constitution, it doesn't say that we can't do that. The People's Privilege is included in the constitution under those unspecified powers. Our power to remove Bush by any means we choose, popular acclaim being the best, falls under those unspecified powers that are ours by right, constitutional authority and our being the primary, leading and superior entity of the four entities in the constitution. If George Bush can invoke powers that he doesn't have to subvert the constitution, we can invoke powers that we do have to uphold the constitution.
So, whaddya say, folks? Want to join in The People's Privilege and tell Harry and Nancy to get to the White House immediately and remove George Bush and his administration? The congress is the proper branch to do this since they're the only entity, besides us, who can remove a president. No need for impeachment proceedings. The congress can act on The People's Privilege as their superior authority. As I've just shown, we have the power to do that, constitutionally. It's much better to do it this way, constitutionally, than the other, more messy but still constitutional way, the overwhelming force and power of we the people. But if we can't tear Bush from his grip on the White House pretty quickly, it may come to that. At least, no matter what we do, it'll be legal under the constitution, using the power of The People's Privilege.
Actually, we have legal precedent for removing Bush and his administration. A paragraph in the Declaration of Independence spells it out: "But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security."
While Madison was referring to another George, it just as well applies in all particulars to the current George. Let's get on with our right and duty.
