This morning, for the first time in weeks, I mailed a letter that didn't have an IMPEACH sticker on the outside. For this letter, the IMPEACH message was on the inside.
On the flip, the letter I sent to the mayor of my city.
Dear Sir:
In mid-December, the New York Times reported of a program, created at the direction of President Bush, under which the private communications of U.S. citizens were and are intercepted without warrants or other judicial oversight. President Bush has since acknowledged the existence of this domestic spying program, and has said he will continue indefinitely this program of wiretaps without warrants.
Besides being an affront to Americans' traditional liberties, this program, on its face, violates the federal FISA law. In 1978, following the Nixon spying scandal, Congress passed the FISA law to make it explicitly clear that judicial oversight is an absolute requirement when intercepting U.S. citizens' private communications.
At this time, there are many conflicting claims being made about the President's surveillance program. There are statements of the President, and contrary press accounts from the agencies involved. In addition, there are the predictable partisan attacks and the predictable partisan defenses. Almost daily there are new accusations, new questions, or new revelations about the surveillance program. This discussion is occurring in public view, much to the benefit of public debate. However, this is not a scandal that can truly be settled by public debate alone.
Charges that President Bush has violated the FISA law are serious charges indeed. Violation of this law is a Federal felony. In light of the Nixon scandal that led to the passage of the law, a violation of the FISA law is one of the most notorious crimes of which a President may be accused. Charges such as these are not fairly tried in the court of public opinion. Charges this serious are fairly tried only in a court of law, where all involved are versed in the legal nuance of which the public is largely ignorant.
In America, we have a legal means by which the President may be accused of crimes committed in office, and by which he may defend himself against those charges. That process is the impeachment process. We are in the midst of a situation in which the President is daily accused in the press of notorious crimes. We must allow him the opportunity to make his defense. We are a law-abiding nation; let us afford the President the legal venue in which to defend his actions. To do otherwise subjects us to the rule of the mob. If in this matter we allow ourselves to be ruled by men, that would expose as a lie the notion that America is ruled by law.
Private citizens may not institute impeachment proceedings against the President; that is the purview of Congress. However, we may, and ought to, take any steps we can to urge our representatives in Congress to impeach the President. Accordingly, I ask that the City of [redacted] pass a resolution asking Congress to impeach President Bush, on the charge that the President commits a high crime in his ongoing direction of the domestic surveillance program.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this most serious matter.
Sincerely,
horsewithnoname