July 23, 2007
The Honorable John Conyers, Jr., Chair
House Committee on the Judiciary
Fax: 202-225-0072
Dear Chairman Conyers,
Probably more than most, you are obviously aware of the egregious pretensions of George Bush and Dick Cheney to virtually unlimited executive power at the expense of the legislative and judicial branches. Over and over again George Bush, Dick Cheney, and their agents have told the country that the presidency is above the rule of law, indeed that the president is the law unto himself, subject to check by nobody.
I am old enough to have lived through Tricky Dick's assault on the Constitution. I agree with John Dean that the Bushites are much worse.
Normal political jousting between the Congress and the president only plays into their hands, because it encourages their belief that there is nothing they can't get away with.
The Framers of the Constitution put the impeachment clause in our founding covenant because they knew there would be occasions of such arrogant abuse of power that the normal political processes would not be enough. They gave us impeachment to use as our recourse for the egregious types of abuse of power that threaten the integrity of our Constitutional structure. They expected us to use it.
I believe you are well aware that the nation is facing that level of abuse of power. I do not believe that anything in our past 231 years of national history is equal to the breadth and malevolence of the Bush-Cheney gang's claims of uncheckable executive power.
Mr. Conyers Sir, the House of Representatives is the people's House. The people must rely on the House to defy the Bush-Cheney power grab through impeachment proceedings, the method given to us by the Framers to deal with this very situation. Sir, when you say "impeachment is off the table," you are saying that part of the Constitution is off the table. You are giving the Bush-Cheney gang of thieves a free pass in advance when you say impeachment is off the table.
Please Sir, please initiate impeachment proceedings in the Judiciary Committee.
David Van Os
San Antonio, Texas
Active civil rights, labor, and Constitutional lawyer
Texas Democratic Nominee for Texas Attorney General in 2006
Tel. 210-821-1700