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Impeachment is a serious indictment. In our recent history, President Richard M. Nixon re-signed before he could be impeached for lying, covering up and ordering very un-presidential orders. It was a very sad day and for many of us it was the end of our idealism and trust. Then, there was the act of impeachment of President William H. Clinton, in which he was later acquitted because his crimes did not rise to the level of "High Crimes and Misdemean-ors” as required by our Constitution. However, he was caught lying and covering up about a distasteful and unprofessional presidential act in and around his desk in the oval office. Two presidents, two vastly different extremes, but both were caught and both were duly chastised. One was removed from office; the other remained, but his presidency was forever stained.
Today, we have a president, George W. Bush, who has lied to the American people, caused an unnecessary war and in so doing has disrupted, ruined, and killed many American service men and women. He has single-handedly destroyed our reputation around the world, grown our national debt to an astonishing figure that none of us will see repaid in our lifetimes, and he has, by his actions, killed, maimed, and destroyed tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women, and children. He has, by his negligence and disdain for the clear and evident science, altered our ability to save our planet from the ravages of global warming. He has undermined and destroyed our natural resources by his wanton neglect and insistence that he alone is the “decider”. He has allowed his oil rich cronies hold us hostage to obscene fuel increases while they fill their coffers with even more obscene financial gains. Perhaps even more awful is his following in his father’s footsteps in allowing and standing silent as we continue to build, sell, and drop munitions with depleted uranium, which will forever alter all who eat, breathe, or drink in its remains. He has destroyed our Constitution and Bill Rights; ignored the Geneva Convention perpetrating and blessing torture and unlawful imprisonment. He’s allowed spying on American citizens with illegal wiretaps.
What does it take folks to get your ire up? It boggles the mind that with all the evidence that this president should be impeached that in fact, he has remained above the fray. How is it possible? Are political lines so vital that we as citizens are less concerned for correcting wrongs and punishing wrong-doers than we are for supporting our political party? We weren’t always so blindsided. Certainly, when President Clinton was brought up on charges, even his most strident supporters did not defend the indefensible. Compared with the crimes perpetrated upon this nation by this sitting president and past criminal actions by past presidents it is unconscionable that 40% of American citizens still stand by and support President George W. Bush. I ask again, how is it possible?
We are living in tenuous times. Some even believe the end times. But then again, storytellers of biblical prophecy have always warned of impending doom. But one doesn’t have to consult the Bible to see the world around us is in serious trouble: sadly, much of which is imposed upon the populace by the few and mighty. Pollution threatens our ability to breathe fresh, clean air. Global Warming is real and a very serious problem. Warmongers bully and hold nuclear weapons in the balance. The Middle East is in crisis. Starvation, torture, murder, destruction of the human race is happening every day in Somalia and Darfur. Disease and lack of vital nutrition and drinkable water threaten the lives of millions around the world. Here at home are homeless families living in cars without gasoline, food banks unable to feed all the hungry, abused children, beaten down and downtrodden parents no longer able to meet the demands of keeping their families safe and healthy.
Here we are in the midst of such horrors and yet we sit quietly on the sidelines watching our Reality TV shows and pray we can make next month’s mortgage payment or fill our gas tank in our car tomorrow. Perhaps this is why too many of us are ignoring the true state of our existence: the true state of our country. Perhaps the ugly truth is just too ugly to face. But unless we face it, unless we stand up and make our voices heard loud and shrill we are doomed, yes, doomed to remain oppressed, controlled by the few, and with less rights than our forefathers had when they left their homelands for a better place.
We need to begin by finding our dignity again, standing tall and defending those less fortunate than us. We need to start stifling those who speak for us in a tongue foreign and in words that betray their true meaning. We need to make our elected representatives responsible to we the people. We need to find our gumption, our strength in numbers, our fortitude, our sense of righteousness, our keen sense of what’s right and what is certainly wrong. We need to educate ourselves, read for ourselves, make up our own minds; we need to turn off the television pundits and ignore their cleverly crafted venom spewed from their bully pulpits and we need to begin a dialogue with our neighbors. We need to start talking again – even when we don’t agree. What happened to debate and discourse and even healthy disagreement? We can learn from each other if we can just step out of our own preconceived skins for a moment in time. We need to stop being afraid that there are eyes and ears everywhere – and that we are no longer free; because, dear friends, if we allow ourselves to be frightened and docile then we can expect nothing more than to be “the controlled masses”. Is this what we want for ourselves, for our children? Is this our destiny?
We need to begin by putting this president on notice that we indeed see; that we indeed are unwilling to accept his vision for us, for our country and that he has to answer to us for the actions, the lies and the laws broken that he has perpetrated upon this nation and its people in our name. It is time to bring this president up on the very serious charges of Impeachment. Never before has a sitting president deserved it more. Never before has such egregious acts gone ignored and unpunished. It is time we exert our rights as citizens of these United States of America and begin the long road to healing this nation. We must begin by removing this president and this administration from their lofty thrones. I pray it’s not too late.
Norma Sherry 2006
Norma Sherry is an award-winning writer/producer. She is the host of The Norma Sherry Show on WQXT-TV. She is also co-founder of Together Forever Changing, an organization designed to enlighten and encourage citizens to fight for our liberties.
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