An Open Letter to Congressman Bernie Sanders
The NY Tmes is reporting today that “President Bush authorized Vice President Dick Cheney in July 2003 to permit Mr. Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., to leak to a reporter key portions of a classified prewar intelligence estimate on Iraq, according to Mr. Libby’s grand jury testimony disclosed in court papers filed late Wednesday.”
Congressman Sanders, can you please stop saying that impeachment is the wrong issue for the Democratic party? Because you are telling Vermonters that, at a certain level, holding people accountable for their criminal actions is not in the nation’s best interest.
I understand that you want to focus your efforts on taking back Congress, not on kicking the President out of the White House, but the way to take back Congress is not by ignoring the issues that face Americans, and the criminal actions of their president is one of the issues. The President of the United States, before being president, is a citizen of this country, and he is not “above the law.” By denying the role of impeachment in a functioning democracy, you deny the egalitarian ideal of America. Not only do you give creedence to the view that our republic has devolved into a plutocracy, but even further, your denial of impeachment demonstrates a refusal to stand up against those in power.
Your desire and your efforts to replace those who are in power is admirable, no doubt. But you forget, sir, that you are in power. You hold in your heart the power of the people of Vermont. A growing percentage of those Vermonters have declared their desire for impeachment proceedings. We are asking you to use your power to speak up against those who have abused theirs. This is what we ask of you. And that is how we will take back Congress. Not by ducking the hard issues, but by facing up to them.
Please stop running from what is right.
Thank you for your time, and your good sense,
Kyle Callahan