I get the impression from reading impeachment articles on OpEdNews that many of you believe that if we could achieve the impeachment of Cheney or Bush that it would improve our standing in the international community tremendously. We agree and also do not think we will ever begin to control the war mongers in either party unless we cause one to be impeached very soon, before the November election.
And why haven't we caused impeachment?
We've marched, protested, fasted, are holding strikes, vigils, sit-ins, die-ins and god knows what else to no avail whatsoever as long as Congress ignores us. The media, wanting access and good treatment from Congress, will also ignore us as long as Congress does.
Perhaps realizing that Congress itself is the current clear and present danger to the Constitution will help. If Congress takes an oath to defend the Constitution and does not, it is the enemy of both the Constitution and the people. I am not proposing rebellion, but how are we to get their attention?
In Colorado we have done over 110 impeachment events in 14 months, all of which have been ignored by our Colorado Congressmen. We have tried to learn from that and come up with a plan that could cause our Congressmen to pay attention.
Our conclusion was that we need to find the Democratic Congressmen who are running for re-election or for the Senate and are in tight races and campaign against them primarily on the point that they are a traitor to their oath when they do not rise to the defense of the Constitution and call for Impeachment Hearings. If they won't defend the Constitution they probably won't do a good job of defending the rights of the voters. You get the idea. We are campaigning against Rep. Udall using harsh language. We also say he is betraying and diminishing the power of Congress itself if he does not defend it against the executive branch.
Our Colorado Congressman Udall is running for the Senate. According to a recent poll there is 2.6 % between him and his Republican opponent. We need only move the public's perception of him by 1.31 percent to get his attention. We believe that it will take a lot less money, people and effort to do that effectively than trying to persuade Congressman from "safe districts" to impeach. We believe that with enough pressure either Udall or one of the "safe seat" Congressmen will change their mind on impeachment.
A prominent local member of the Colorado peace and justice community asked me recently why we are going after Udall saying that surely we don't want the Republican to win the Senate seat.
I replied No, we don't want Schaffer over Udall, but if pressuring Udall within a hair of losing the election will get one or more of our Colorado Congressmen to come out for impeachment, we'll take the risk."
Getting the US House to hold impeachment hearings would go a long way to putting some steel in their collective spine for our other goals and would help restore much needed influence of the peace and justice/anti-war community.
We think it is worth the risk of losing one or two Democratic Congressmen across the country.
We think that the Democrats will add to their majorities in the House and Senate no matter what pressure we activists put on them. It is more a matter of affecting the extent of that increased majority. No Congressman wants to be the one to lose by a few votes and that could happen to Udall. And more importantly, no senior Congressman wants to lose a Chairmanship they have enjoyed for the first time in 10 years, or if they are anticipating gaining a Chair, having it snatched away at the last minute by rabid protesters. We think it is possible to build on all Congressmen's fear of losing by attacking the weaker candidates. It is not just about one candidate's race but about the percentage of Democrats in Congress. We can worry all of them by challenging that percentage.
The Colorado plan is to pressure the weaker Democratic Congressional candidates, the ones in tight races for either House or Senate. We think that will put pressure on both the "tight race" Democratic Candidates themselves and the "safe seat" Dems as well to support impeachment hearings. It is to Rep. DeGette's advantage to have a higher number of House seats held by Democrats, it affects Committee assignments and senority, and her power and influence.
We have been protesting at our Congressman Udall's state campaign headquarters, at public appearances, at even Republican events where we can get our point about Udall noticed. We even protest against Udall at the offices of other Colorado Democratic Congessmen like Rep. DeGette.
Since we have started down this path the honking at our impeach protests has easily quadrupled. We think the voters are aware that the problem really is our Democratic Congressmen and they are glad that we are doing something about it. We recently had feedback from the Udall campaign via a well known local Democratic blogger and rabid Udall supporter asking us to back off. The plan is working here.
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