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Can we start a re-call effort?

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chimpymustgo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-15-05 12:11 PM
Original message
Can we start a re-call effort?
Impeachment won't do us any good because of the line of succession. We need a "this crap has got to stop NOW" re-call.

Vote in Kerry/Edwards. Again. This time it'll be a landslide even they can't steal.
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Dawgs Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-15-05 12:12 PM
Response to Original message
1. Sounds good to me...
:bounce:
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Gabi Hayes Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-15-05 12:15 PM
Response to Original message
2. great idea, except that there's
NO SUCH THING!

try reading the constitution
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SammyWinstonJack Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-15-05 12:55 PM
Response to Reply #2
7. You mean the Constitution that bushco** doesn't paid attention too?
They don't seem to have a problem ignoring it.
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BlueEyedSon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-15-05 12:16 PM
Response to Original message
3. There is no recall mechanism for POTUS
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yy4me Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-15-05 12:18 PM
Response to Original message
4. We need a constitutional expert
to let us know if the founding fathers built in any fail-safe mechanism to protect the country from the likes of this administration. Maybe there is a provision lurking within the constitution that has never been used and that can be activated. Jefferson and his incredible compatriots thought of almost everything else, would they have left out a means to deal with incompetency or worse?
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chimpymustgo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-15-05 12:28 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. I don't think there is a Constitutional provision. But it sure might be
worth an expert looking into it.

You know we'd have the votes.
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TechBear_Seattle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-15-05 12:49 PM
Response to Reply #4
6. Nope, sorry
The US constitution creates a federal republic. As such, the People have no representation in the federal government, only the states. As written, the People have no voice in selecting the federal government except for the House of Representatives, which is the weakest branch of government(*) and the one designed to have the fastest turn-over. The People do not actually elect the President; technically, the popular vote is nothing more than a directive to the States, telling them how to cast their Electoral Votes.

The Framers wanted to protect the president from having to fend off constant political threats so he could focus on the job of leading the country. To this end, they made it so that only the states, via the Congress, could remove the President, just as only the states could put him in to power. Only the "popular" branch of Congress could initiate charges, the idea being that it would serve as an outlet to public anger. Only the appointed branch of Congress could actually try those charges, the idea being that it would serve as a safety: only charges that had real merit would be tried.

The problem is that the Constitution, as it is now, is significantly different than the Constitution as written. Among other things, the President was originally the winner of the Electoral Vote and the Vice President was the runner-up and (presumably) the President's chiefest political opponent. The threat of being ousted and replaced by his nemesis was one of the checks on presidential power. That is also why the Vice President was made president of the Senate and head of all the things (ratify treaties, approve presidential nominations, etc.) that the Senate does. The 12th Amendment, ratified in 1804, removed those checks and balances.

Also, the Framers fought against partisan politics, which is why the Constitution has nothing about coalitions or "making a government" similar to the Parlimentary system. I doubt very much they ever envisioned an entrenched two-party system where a single group of people held all three branches of government in a death-grip. And because they did not foresee that happpening, they never built in the means to remove a President -- or a Congress, or a Judiciary -- where such a monolithic party was corrupt.

Personally, I think we need to fall back on that wonderfully written bit of inflamatory, revolutionary rhetoric known as the Declaration of Independence. 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.

Now, having been a patriot and quoted the loved-by-the-right-wing DoI, I expect the Department of Homeland Security will soon be inviting me for a visit.

(*) The House has only two distinct powers: it alone may draft a bill of impeachment against the President, Vice President or member of the federal judiciary (Article I, Section 2, para. 5) and it alone may initiate finance bills (Article I, Section 7.) Compare that to the extensive powers of the Senate, originally appointed by the state legislatures.
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chimpymustgo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-15-05 12:59 PM
Response to Reply #6
8. You say you want a revolution?
Edited on Mon Aug-15-05 01:01 PM by chimpymustgo
"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."

"It is our duty". And it IS another King George. Or the Ly'n King, as a C-SPAN caller put it so well the other day.

Thanks for the info.


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CubsFan1982 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-15-05 03:10 PM
Response to Reply #4
13. Try reading Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution.
As well as Article I, Sections 2 and 3. It's called impeachment, and I didn't even have to look that up.
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yurbud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-15-05 01:00 PM
Response to Original message
9. impeach both after 2006 if Dems play hardball.
Hillbilly Hitler art:



Blog:



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Walt Starr Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-15-05 01:03 PM
Response to Original message
10. That's an unconstitutional proposition
Sorry, but impeachment is the only way.
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Sapphire Blue Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-15-05 01:04 PM
Response to Original message
11. Impeachment of bush & cheney should be the first order of business
... of the 110th Congress... the Democratic controlled Congress.
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CubsFan1982 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-15-05 02:59 PM
Response to Original message
12. Read the Constitution.
God, the ignorance. :banghead:
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yy4me Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-15-05 04:16 PM
Response to Reply #12
14. Sorry CubsFan,
I'm new here, trying to get my feet wet on DU. Didn't mean to get you riled up. Haven't been called ignorant since I was a kid!
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CubsFan1982 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-15-05 05:28 PM
Response to Reply #14
15. Well, really, that's no excuse.
You should know the Constitution. It's a pretty straight-forward document. It just drives me nuts to see people who aren't familiar with it.
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bluestateguy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-15-05 06:22 PM
Response to Original message
16. I'll be a part of that
You find me the section in the US Constitution that tells us what we have to do for a recall election and I'll be happy to do my part.
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