What Dennis Has Done

By David Swanson

Imagine that you've not eaten a decent meal in months, that the hunger is squeezing and burning you from the inside, and that suddenly you find yourself at an 18-course feast of a dinner -- say perhaps at a summit meeting of world leaders discussing food shortages. You sit down at the table, and they bring in giant platters of the most delicious foods, building a rolling mountain chain of delicacies from one end of the table to the other. On Thursday, July 10, 2008, Americans, rich and poor, had this experience. Our national sustenance is found in our Constitution and our Bill of Rights, and it's been many months that we've been deprived of them. In May of 2006, then House Speaker to be Nancy Pelosi had ordered impeachment "off the table." On Thursday, Congressman Dennis Kucinich put it back on, and we suddenly feasted our eyes on our recently lost Fourth Amendment, on our old staple Habeas Corpus, on our sweet Freedom of Speech, and on our bountiful right to be represented and hold our elected officials to the rule of law.

How did this happen? Millions of Americans made clear to Pelosi their demand for impeachment hearings for Cheney and Bush. And one member of Congress took unusual steps to bring impeachment back from exile. First Kucinich introduced 3 articles of impeachment against Cheney. Then he introduced 35 against Bush. And on Thursday he introduced a single article of impeachment against Bush charging him with misleading Congress into a war on Iraq. And in each case, Kucinich introduced his resolution on the floor of the House, forcing the issue into the media and public discourse, and forcing a vote by his colleagues.

Apparently feeling the pressure and reluctant to have Kucinich raise impeachment on a weekly basis, Pelosi told the media that she expected the Judiciary Committee to consider the matter this time, at least in some half-way sort-of-impeachment hearing. Kucinich held a press conference on Thursday at which he said that what he wants is an opportunity to present his proposals to the Judiciary Committee.

Imagine, for the sake of argument, that Kucinich gets what he's asking for or that Pelosi follows through on her statement in one way or another. The public pressure that has been building for over three years will have achieved a victory. The work of Judiciary Committee members led by Robert Wexler lobbying Chairman John Conyers to begin impeachment hearings will have contributed. But the proximate cause of Pelosi's restoration of impeachment to our public table will have been Kucinich's willingness to introduce impeachment resolutions.

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