Conservative Revolutionary American Party III: Should Al Gore Lead the Impeachment Movement?

Posted by Guest Blogger at 5:55 AM on July 5, 2007.

Jeffrey Feldman: An open letter to the former Vice President, "While you may be one citizen, your voice has proven its ability to endure."

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This post, written by Jeffrey Feldman, originally appeared on Frameshop

TO: Former Vice President Al Gore

RE: Impeachment of the U.S. President and Vice President

Dear Sir:

I write, today, to invite you to become the leader of the rapidly growing, national discussion on impeachment-- specifically, the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

For some time now, there has been a sizable interest amongst the American people to see articles of impeachment brought against the current administration, in particular for its repeated and calculated acts of subverting vast sections of our constitution. In the wake of the recent commutation of I. Lewis Libby's jail sentence by President Bush, this interest in impeachment has burst into a groundswell--albeit a movement without a visible leader. With your experience, integrity and skill, I believe you are the best person to step in and lead this discussion, guide this process to a meaningful end for the good of nation.

Many in this country believe that the decision to go to war is the most grave a government is called to make. I disagree. In a system of government forged of our common faith in the balance of powers, the decision of the legislative branch to declare the leadership of the executive branch in criminal violation of the law--and then to act on that declaration by passing articles of impeachment--that is the most grave decision of all.

Despite the seriousness of this act, the last time articles of impeachment were brought against a sitting president, the process was little more than a transparent attempt to embarrass a party--a political ploy.

Now, with our armed forces held hostage by a floundering foreign policy in Iraq and the courts made a mockery by an abuse of clemency power worthy of the Watergate scandal, Americans are in need of a serious leadership on the issue of impeachment.

My choice to invite you to take up this role is neither arbitrary nor dispassionate. I believe very deeply in the constitutional process that guides, and girds, America's system of government, as well as American identity. And I believe that bringing articles of impeachment against the current administration is not only a reasonable act, but it is well our moral obligation as citizens. But I am just one person with one voice, and in the current reality of our national politics, most lone voices dissipate before they are heard.

While you may be one citizen, your voice has proven its ability to endure.

One example of how powerful your voice has become can be found in a speech you delivered on 'Restoring the Rule of Law' (January 16, 2006). Americans of every political stripe have read that speech over and over again and found in it the precise description of the crisis we face--a crisis that goes far beyond George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and cuts to the core principles of the United States:

A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government. Our Founding Fathers were adamant that they had established a government of laws and not men. Indeed, they recognized that the structure of government they had enshrined in our Constitution - our system of checks and balances - was designed with a central purpose of ensuring that it would govern through the rule of law. As John Adams said: "The executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them, to the end that it may be a government of laws and not of men."

An executive who arrogates to himself the power to ignore the legitimate legislative directives of the Congress or to act free of the check of the judiciary becomes the central threat that the Founders sought to nullify in the Constitution - an all-powerful executive too reminiscent of the King from whom they had broken free. In the words of James Madison, "the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."

Thomas Paine, whose pamphlet, "On Common Sense" ignited the American Revolution, succinctly described America's alternative. Here, he said, we intended to make certain that "the law is king."

(full text here, audio file here)

Sir, we are faced with a President who does not think that the law is king, but is convinced that he is the law--and as such, has acted with the tyrannical arrogance of a king. And the time is right for you to turn from your description of the problem to the leading the nation through the constitutional prescription for arriving at a cure.

From that speech we learn--from James Madison's words as passed on your voice--that American is not merely suffering from greed, war and corruption, but from 'the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands.' And the only way to stop that suffering is to reset the balance of powers.

And so, I write this letter with a dual purpose: not only to ask you to lead the national discussion on impeachment, but also to invite all Americans to listen and read your speech of January 16, 2006--a speech that grows more important and more resonant with each day that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney remain unchecked by articles of impeachment.

I am fully aware that there are several other competing request for your time. Many people have written similarly imploring you to put aside your role in the environmental movement and reclaim the leadership of the Democratic Party--to run for President in 2008. With this in mind, I admit that my petition stands somewhat apart from those. While I believe you would make an outstanding President, I also believe that the current situation in this country might actually be more urgent, more rapidly upon us than the 2008 general election or even the primary election season that precedes it.

My concern is to find a progressive American capable of steering the debate on impeachment through a productive course--one that leads to renewed faith in our constitution and in our government, and cuts off the rising tide of cynicism before it grows to a scale that overwhelms this great nation forever.

On Independence Day of all times, such an invitation is certainly worth considering.

Yours sincerely,

Jeffrey Feldman

New York City