Peter Welch spoke on the floor of the U.S.
House today explaining to the Congress why Vermonters
in ever greater numbers are calling for impeachment.
While it is good for members of Congress and for those
who watch C-SPAN to hear about our sentiments, a
speech is a miserable substitute for action.
Congressman Welch wants to end this war yesterday he
says, but he has thus far only voted to further fund
it. Impeachment will divide the Congress and only
prolong the war he says, but he cannot point to a
single action of Congress that has taken one step to
even slow the pace of the occupation.
Welch thanks impeachment activists and says that
while he opposes impeachment, he supports the
indictment that we make against the Bush
administration. He can't have it both ways. The
prosecutor doesn't thank the grand jury for their hard
work, agree with their call for indictment, and then
toss it in the trash on his way out of the courthouse.
But that is exactly what Peter Welch is doing and some
people will try to tell us that we should be grateful
to him for doing it.
Impeachment is the only Constitutional tool that we
have left in the toolbox that could actually block
this administration from furthering their reckless
military stance. Impeachment is the only workable
remedy that could help to redeem us in the eyes of the
rest of the world.
This Democratic Congress has betrayed us.
They pull at some dried skin of a reeking onion, but
they refuse to investigate the rot that is spreading
from its core. "Look, " they say, "we snipped those
brown edges of the skin, it's a fine onion again.
Aren't we good cooks?" A mere 40 Senators could
prevent any further funding of this war, providing
only a way to pay for withdrawal, but there are not
yet 40 Senators who are brave or principled enough to
do so. While Welch waits for the Republicans to
magically join the Democratic war (non) strategy and
then convince this President to change his mind, a
handful of his colleagues have already called for
impeachment investigations against Dick Cheney. It is
sad that our Congressman is content with so little. It
is as whimsical for him to think that he's taking
steps to end this war as it is for the President to
think that he's winning it.
Our Congressman is not yet convinced that we
represent the views of an overwhelming number of
Vermonters. He will be disabused of this notion in the
coming days and weeks. There will be petition and post
card drives that will give notice of just how many we
are.
We are fed up with vacuous leadership. We are fed up
with excuses. We are above all fed up with mediocre
rhetoric masquerading as substance. This is a call for
civil obedience to the Constitution by those who have
sworn to defend it. It may well be the last call
before massive civil disobedience is seen as the only
way left to get our government to become once again
"for the people".