Congressman Fitzpatrick:
Below is the text of the speech I delivered to many of your constituents tonight in Doylestown at an Indivisible rally. I urge you to read it carefully and then join us in our solemn duty to defend our Constitution and our democracy. I, and many of your constituents, would then be proud to see you on the right side of history.
“It is good to see in the crowd today Americans who love and care for our system of government. I am confident that you are here today because you, unfettered by party, ideology, or selfish personal passion, have seen clearly that recent actions of the occupant of the White House violate the rule of law and the delicate balance of power among the three branches of our government enshrined in our beloved Constitution. I see the concerned citizens gathered here today not as Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, or Greens, but as American patriots who are deeply worried about the health and future viability of our American democracy. You wisely put our Country, first and foremost, over blind allegiance to Party.
These are not happy times for rejoicing in a possible perceived partisan advantage, but rather somber and perilous times when we see our nation in turmoil because of the excesses and overreach of the leader of one branch of our three part government. These are times when Americans must not be blind to the peril that is so obvious and in plain sight. These are times which demand courage and action, not denial, indifference, or the selfish pursuit of power. Luckily, due to the wisdom of the founders, there is included in the Constitution they wrote in 1787 a path forward to right the ship of state. And that path as described in Article II, Section 4 is the lawful constitutional path of impeachment.
What the People’s House is currently undertaking, an impeachment inquiry into the facts surrounding the president’s recent abuse of his executive power, is not a coup, is not a witch hunt, and is not a hoax. Rather it is a fundamental lawful process that our founders foresaw would be used in extreme circumstances where the fundamental principles of our system of government are at risk. And sadly we find ourselves in these extraordinary perilous times today. And that is precisely why you, the People, are gathered here today and in similar town halls, town squares, city streets, and in front of courthouses across our great but beleaguered country. You, who are not spies or traitors or enemies of the people, but rather true American patriots, know we must exercise this awesome process of impeachment to counter the destructive forces this current president has unleashed against our system of government.
Other true American patriots, who long ago brought our nation to life in 1776, knew that the power of a good government should not flow from a kingly divine right, but from the very People themselves. So they rose up against a king, who also spoke of absolute rights to do what he wished to his powerless subjects, and created a system of government where the power of the executive was limited by the People’s Houses and the Judiciary. We must act as those Americans did in 1776 when they acted against the forces of tyranny to assert the fundamental rights of “We, the People.” The system of government that they fought with their lives to create was not one to guarantee the absolute right of its executive leader to misuse the power of the people for personal passions and power. It was instead a system of government designed to serve the will of the People and further the public good. The founders also recognized that the executive leader’s primary allegiance was to America and its Constitution, not to foreign powers who sought to control the freedom and rights of Americans.
Recent events reveal that our president has betrayed the power of the presidency, which we the people have entrusted to him to further the public good, for his own personal political benefit. He has publicly sought the assistance of foreign powers to interfere in our sacred fair and free democratic elections in which only American citizens have the right to participate. He has weakened our national security by curtailing foreign policy military expenditures already approved by the People’s House and Senate to further his own selfish political aims of retaining his presidential power. And he and his administration have been engaging in continued acts of obstruction of justice, challenging unlawfully the constitutional powers of the legislative and judicial branches on so many occasions.These acts are in clear defiance of the Constitution and the rule of law and are now wisely being challenged by the lawful impeachment inquiry in the People’s House. Your presence here today shows that you understand the peril in which this president has placed our system of government and I commend and thank you, by your presence here today, in sending this clear message to other Americans: no one is above the law. No one is above the law. Who is above the law? No one.
Sadly, some of our elected leaders still refuse to see the peril our democracy is in because of the selfish actions of our president. They fail, either through ignorance, poor judgement, or the desire to retain their power, to see that our president has betrayed the public trust in his pursuit of his own selfish ends and that therefore he must be impeached. You need to continue to send to your Congressperson and Senators your patriotic message to protect and defend our Constitution over and over again until their heads are finally removed from the blinding sand and their eyes, like yours, are finally opened to the danger this administration presents to our democracy.
Understand that your support of the impeachment process will not only help save our democracy today, but will help future generations as well. Your courageous voices will also speak resoundingly to future leaders who will see that they too are not above the law and must abide by the principles of our Constitution. In this way you will help ensure that the bold experiment of democracy our founders created long ago in the 18th century will not fall to the dark forces of autocracy, demagoguery, and fascism. Please continue to be indomitable defenders of our Constitution and of the shining beacon of our beloved democracy. Thank you.”