My Field Trip to the Statehouse

Montpelier: I went into the Vermont Statehouse cafeteria at noon on Tuesday, and found an empty seat at a table with three members of the House Judiciary Committee, which is where an impeachment resolution is currently stalled. As they explained all the reasons why they couldn't bring up the resolution for discussion, it became clear that, while they are very interested in following protocol, and very worried about losing any votes on the floor, they were less concerned with the immediate Constitutional/military crisis that we are facing today, and not impressed with the fact that they may actually be able to do something about it.

Apparently, the only thing that will move them is a deafening roar from the populace. The representatives conceded that they have been hearing from Vermonters, just not the right ones. They have been hearing from Vermonters from every corner of the state. If they had been paying attention, they would have seen Vermonters in the streets earlier this year, calling for an end to the war and the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. They are surely mindful of the pro-impeachment votes of 40 Vermont towns.

We got a promise from the Judiciary chair that he would reconsider having a hearing, but that was the only positive outcome of that conversation. Just outside the cafeteria, a Burlington TV crew was waiting to interview me about my reaction to having Vermont impeachment the subject of Doonesbury this week - no questions about impeachment, just about the comic strip.

After lunch, where I got to meet with some of other wonderful Vemonters who have been working on impeachment, it was back for another helping of Legislature Letdown, this time from the Senate side. Senate President pro-temp Peter Shumlin let us know right off that an impeachment resolution is not going to happen in the Senate. He shuts down the committees in three days and there is no time left. He complained that he should have heard from us in January or February so he could have passed it.

Historical note: I asked him to introduce a resolution in the Senate on March 1. He replied that he could but he would rather get it from the House. When pressed a couple of weeks later, he said it HAD to come from the House. When we showed him that indeed it didn't, he said that he didn't want to step on House Speaker Gaye Symington's toes, and now that Symington says he can do what he wants, he says he's out of time. (We should have been working earlier on other Senators, but this is an ad-hoc peoples' movement that has just started to take shape, not a well organized lobbying machine.)

My day was capped off by an appearance on Vermont Public Radio's Switchboard program, which is heard statewide. I was appearing along with Rob Roper, the head of the Vermont Republican Party to discuss impeachment. The listeners who called spoke overwhelmingly and persuasively in favor of impeachment. Even though Mr. Roper recited some of the same old tired Limbaugh litany during the show, he said afterwards that we probably have more in common than one would imagine.

It is becoming increasingly untenable for anyone to defend the actions of this administration any longer. We must make our representatives in Montpelier and Washington see that by refusing to take the actions that are available to them, they are aiding and abetting the illegal and unconstitutional actions of the Bush and Cheney administration. If they have to be hit over the head with floods of correspondence, then let's contact them. Each one of us who chooses to do nothing, who doesn't bother to call or email our representatives, is also aiding and abetting in the crimes of this administration. George Bush has said that everyone must choose; are you with us or against us? But that means with him and his war or against him and his war. Those who refuse to take action by now, are casting their choice for George Bush. Please don't be one of them.

After yesterday's politicking, today was spent cross country skiing along a Green Mountain watershed, crossing swamps and ponds crisscrossed with fresh tracks of snowshoe hare, otters, moose, coyote and even a beaver toboggan run. When we stop and look at the mountains surrounding us, we are always deeply moved and reminded of our incredible good fortune to live here, and of our responsibility to be active members of the landscape and community. Let us recognize the need to see the welfare of the nation and the sanctity of the Constitution in the same way.