Talk About a Revolution!
Forget the Broom – part 2

Copyright © 2005 Bob Persons

September 3, 2005

Are you furiously angry yet?
Have you had enough?
Are you ready for a revolution?

Bush's preparation for Hurricane Katrina was miserable, uncaring, hopeless. Then, as if pedaling like mad to catch up to the nation's opinion, he made sure he was photographed hugging (how about “groping”?) white women in Mississippi. The obvious incompetence was multiplied when the horse groomer was revealed to not know what to do as head of FEMA. Of course, he was sacrificed. Now Bush says the federal responsibility is his. (Is he admitting a mistake?!!!! Mark that in your diary.) There is no hope for this administration. It has pooped our nation into the toilet and is poised to flush.

Why do Americans put up with this?

We are, perhaps, so comfortable in our giant, comfortable technological playpens that we figure everything must be ticking along pretty well. It's the same attitude I ran into when I suggested to a pastor that war is killing and how does that square with the teachings of the church and of Jesus? His answer was that America has replaced the Jews as God's chosen people, as evidenced by our world-wide wealth and power! As I fell off my chair at that statement 42 years ago, so I continually fall off my chair now as I see Americans not caring. Okay, let's blame the press, constantly throwing up Michael Jackson's exploits as though they were inherently important to the American core values.

Who's the boss, anyway?

”Support the troops!” Ask the person who says that what he means. Think you'll get a coherent answer? My feeling is that what is really meant by that glib statement is, if you don't support our government's policies then you are not a good American. So why don't they just say that? Then we could have a discussion. No, the intent is to cut off discussion by orienting around a statement that no one would ever say is wrong-headed. It's like saying “Love your mother.” Nobody (very few, anyway) will argue with that. But what's the point, if your real aim is to say “Support the war because Mom does.”

The government is not the nation. The nation is people. People organize themselves and elect a government to manage the organization. The government is the people's employees. The people are the boss. The people's wishes are to be implemented by the worker bee government. The founding fathers warned us that, because the people in the government are – well, people, they have all the nasty tendencies found in all people – tendencies (greed, avarice, lust for power, etc) that must be controlled. That's why we have a Constitution – a code of operation that government officials have vowed to uphold. The people must be constantly vigilant, that the government does not work contrary to the people's interests.

So when the government works contrary to the people's interests, the people must rectify its actions. If the contrary actions or policies persist, the people should remove the officials (either in the next election or by impeachment). If the government is unresponsive to the people's wishes, then the people must remove or replace it. So said Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence.

Time to impeach them all!

I have been calling for Bush's impeachment since early 2001, when he unilaterally withdrew from the missile deal and the Kyoto agreement. Since then, things have just gotten worse and worse, with no letup in sight. This is the worst presidential administration in history. (Technically, I can't speak for any president prior to Truman, but I will go out on a limb here.)

Mike Brown “resigned” as a result of disclosure of incompetence. Mr Bush should set an example and step down himself (and take his whole unholy crew with him) before the nation's integrity is irretrievable.

Write your senators and demand that the Bush administration either resign en masse or submit to impeachment.

Jim Weaver (former Congressman) and Frank Stahl (cancer researcher the University of Oregon) advocate impeaching George W. Bush based on his lies that led us into the war in Iraq.

Letter to my representatives in Congress

I began writing this letter before the Hurricane Katrina disaster. My government's preparation for, and response to, the obliteration of a major American city only intensifies my conviction that the Bush administration must be removed from office before the American dream is irretrievable.

Bush has bungled America's response to terrorism, he has driven the economy into the drink, his tax policies are dividing rich and poor with a massive chasm, he has bungled the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he makes light of the fact that he has plunged our nation into a long, costly, and completely unjustified war by deceiving the American people into compliance. He has begun a massive looting of the commons, including the environment, to benefit major corporations. He refuses to talk to regular citizens, unless he knows ahead of time that they agree with his policies. Yet he opens the doors wide to corporations and contributors.

His delayed reaction to Nine-Eleven, then to last Christmas' tsunami disaster, and now to the devastation wrought by hurricane Katrina (with help from inadequate preparation, thanks to the National Guard being deployed overseas and funds for levee maintenance cut, inadequate emergency personnel on hand before landfall of what was known ahead of time to be a monstrous storm), leave me utterly devoid of confidence in his ability to lead. As with Nine-Eleven, I expect him to fully exploit the Katrina disaster for political gain.

He is an embarrassment, a complete incompetent. I have long stopped listening for insight from him. I have long stopped believing he tells the truth. I have long stopped believing he has American citizens at heart with his policies. It is pointless to listen, because he either regurgitates the standard lines without further thought or exclaims absurdities and lies. He never admits he was wrong on anything. I have long lost hope for change from this administration.

If something radical isn't done now, I fear what Paul Krugman says in the August 19 New York Times: The current administration has a lot to lose in the coming 2006 and 2008 elections - a great temptation for it to use any means to ensure its victory. This would be an even more pernicious version of the 2000 and 2004 election debacles.

The administration must be replaced with one that takes seriously the American dream of government of, by, and for the people. We cannot wait three and a half more years. The Declaration of Independence outlined the principles underlying, and the conditions for, the people retrieving the government it needs, and it includes the principle that it the people's duty to do so. The people's representatives must honor that and right thing for America

The root of the problem as I see it: If the administration is not out and out conspiring against the America of the Constitution, then it is exhibiting an obscene high level of incompetence. If I were its employer, I would have them fired. But this is the American government, which was elected, so what do we do? The only valid options I see are to either demand resignations or impeach them. I don't expect that even a cold day in hell would prompt them to the first option (it is obvious they don' have a clue to their incompetence, even in the face of Katrina), so I say impeach them. Impeach them If the president is too high a target for success, then start a bit lower - say, the vice president, the secretary of defense, the attorney general, the secretary of state.

The basis for impeachment? Corruption, lies leading to war, the theft of the people's commons. Too bad the Constitution doesn't have specify 'gross incompetence' as a reason for impeachment.

If this administration is not removed, I fear the nation is heading toward ruin - economically, respect in the world community, warlike empire stance, go-it-our-own-way, with future generations left to clean up the mess (if it is retrievable at all). And no one with power seems willing to do what it takes to stop it.

I've lived in and loved this country for over 65 years, warts and all. But now the warts are practically all I see. I am fed up with this government. The Katrina debacle has made me furiously angry. It is the straw that broke this long-suffering camel's back.

I want my country back. I demand that this administration be removed and replaced with one that is answerable to the American people and sensitive to the issues of all American citizens and other peoples around the world.

Too much dirt

- Lone Coyote Calls