Impeachment and criminal prosecution of those who allow torture won unanimous support at my caucus

[Bjorn Against]

I live in suburban hell. While I am represented by Democrats in both state houses, no one would confuse the place in which I live as a progressive stronghold. Our roads are filled with SUVs, funding for our schools is consistently voted down, and our shopping and dining choices are represented by Wal-Mart and McDonalds.

And so tonight when I carried my resolution for the DFL party platform to my precinct caucus I expected to receive some opposition. Here is the exact wording of my resolution:

"The Democratic Party of Minnesota believes that torture has no place in a civilized society, and that any public official who knowingly allows acts defined by the Geneva Conventions as torture to take place must be removed from office and prosecuted under criminal law."

You might think that a resolution which calls for not only for impeachment but also for criminal prosecution would be met with serious debate. But there was no debate needed, the resolution passed unanimously on a voice vote. In my fairly conservative precinct there was not one person who voiced a word of opposition. The resolution will now move on to my state senate district caucus and if it passes there it will move to the state convention. If the delegates at the state convention approve of it it will then become part of the platform of the Minnesota DFL.

I admit that is a much more difficult task than it may sound, there are likely to be hundreds of resolutions that make it to the next level and many will be rejected.

Whether my resolution is rejected further down the line is besides the point though, the point is that in my fairly conservative suburban precinct a resolution that called for impeachment and criminal prosecution of those who knowingly allow acts of torture to take place was passed without opposition.

If Democrats in my precinct will vote for such a resolution unanimously then it is clear to me that there is broad support for holding this administration as well as those who would choose to follow in their footsteps accountable under the law.

It is time to take impeachment off the table and ensure that no person is above the law. It is time to show Nancy Pelosi that she is in the minority when it comes to the issue of impeachment, and that if she wants to represent the Democratic Party then she needs to do her job and hold people accountable.

Torture does not belong in civilized societies, and neither does a pResident who orders people to be tortured. It is time to impeach, indict, and imprison.

[L. Coyote]

1. K & R & Impeach two too

[gratuitous]

2. Shocking

Totally shocking that such a resolution should even need to be voted on. But excellent on your caucus for voting correctly.

[Bjorn Against]

3. Yes it is shocking.

And frankly I must say I find it pretty sad that I assumed I would face opposition to such a resolution as it seems to be one of those things that no one should oppose. I have just heard so many people defend torture in recent years and so many people oppose impeachment that I assumed a much tougher battle. This was one time I was glad to be wrong though, I was very pleased with the people at my caucus tonight.

[gratuitous]

7. Kind of nice, and it tells you something

You were expecting some opposition (and frankly, I would have as well). But isn't it interesting that people getting together and talking about it unanimously come to the right conclusion? Why would we expect anything different? I submit that it's because we're being told over and over again that there's some kind of principled disagreement on the question, when there really isn't. The only people keeping this fake controversy alive are the ones who would be going to jail if our society quit arguing the point and just started putting the perpetrators, enablers and commanders behind bars.

[Psyop Samurai]

4. Congratulations !!

I think there's a lot less opposition to accountability and decency than the media and party hypnotists would have us believe.

[rhett o rick]

5. Wash state caucus is Sat. May I use your words? nm

[Bjorn Against]

8. Absolutely, I would love to see other states pass similar resolutions

[rhett o rick]

10. Oh I very much doubt it will get past the platform "committee". Platforms are so much

bullschite but I gotta try.

[gilpo]

11. get on the platform committee, then you have a say.

i volunteered for the nomination committee last night at my caucus for that very reason.

[MrCoffee]

14. I would very much like to introduce that at my caucus on Saturday

If you don't mind.

[Bjorn Against]

16. Go right ahead.

[rhett o rick]

18. Is your caucus in Wash State? nm

[Hissyspit]

6. k&r n/t

[DCKit]

9. The Constitution is made up of concise sentences like that...

with far deeper implications than any single sentence should ever be able to hold.

You're my hero.

[pat_k]

15. it is Sooo basic. . .

Perhaps nothing is more central to the identity and moral authority of a nation than the treatment of the people who are in the custody of a state and the processes by which they are committed to state custody.

Whether it be an orphaned or abused child, a mental patient who presents a danger to self or others, a criminal suspect, a convicted criminal, or a person captured in armed conflict, if the processes for committing the individual to state custody are immoral or unjust, then the state is immoral and unjust. If the treatment of those in custody is inhumane, then the state is inhumane.

The USA is now an immoral, unjust, inhumane, war criminal nation. It has been transformed without our consent. Ultimately, the principle that legitimate government authority can only be derived from the consent of the governed is the sole moral principle on which all others rely. Impeachment is the ONLY way we can assert our sovereign authority. Only impeachment can say "No Way! Not in MY America" to that which has been done without our consent.

And it is the Members of Congress -- Our Voice -- who are bound by oath to defend our common contract by impeaching the usurpers. Their will surrender of the massive power of the American presidency to outlaws is insanity.

[mod mom]

12. Candidates should sign a pledge to hold the * Administration accountable to the rule of law.

If they refuse, then we must decide whether that candidate is one we wish to chose.

[pat_k]

13. Remember when the NV State Dem Party put impeachment on their platform??

Unsurprisingly, Reid purged it from the final platform in 2004, but that couldn't erase the vote.

Las Vegas Review-Journal
April 17, 2004

State Convention: Democrats move past losses
Delegates put impeachment on platform, saying Bush lied about Iraq

By Erin Neff
Review-Journal

Driven by overwhelming disgust with the Bush administration, Nevada Democrats kicked off their state convention Friday by tentatively supporting the president's impeachment as part of their platform. . .

And of course we have the SF resolution to impeach (Pelosi's district), which passed by 60%.

In http://impeachforpeace.org/impeach_bush_blog/?p=3777">Oct-2007 Reid told us that he "tells anyone that suggests impeachment that it is a very foolish idea. . . Foolish." And thus he condescends and insults your caucus (and who knows how many others), his own State Party, various ACLU chapters, 60% of SF, distinguishes people like McGovern, the co-sponsors of the H.R. to impeach Cheney, the numerous towns, counties, and state legislators, and the countless others groups and individuals who are actively calling for impeachment (and those who aren't demanding, but who tell us they would "love to see them impeached.")

The BIGGEST of the big lies is that support for impeachment would be limited "lefties" or "liberals" or "progressives." Right up there is the irrational notion that commitment "work with" war criminals instills hope. (All those reportedly inspired young people are http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-na-youth5feb05,1,848870.story">Low on hope, but they'll still vote (LA Times, 2-5-08).

Propaganda and delusions. That's all we're hearing. And yet, despite their relentless efforts to suppress active support for impeachment, they can't manage to get it below 40% (and that doesn't count the people who would jump on the impeachment bus if the Dems started it up.)

When we look for opportunities to raise the subject of impeachment with our neighbors, at meetings, while waiting for a bus, on the train, on the Supermarket line -- wherever -- we find that fury at the devastation that Bush and his rubber stamp Repubs are wreaking cuts across the entire political spectrum. Polls tells us that a majority believe bushncheney are breaking the Constitution. They tells us that 60% personally wish Bush's presidency was over (and that was a Newsweek poll at the beginning of '07).

Impeaching and forcing an up or down vote on the worst of the Bush regime would certainly "divide the nation" -- it would draw a bright line between people who revere American Principle and those who revere Fascist Principle. (And that divide is something like 75%/25%, which http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Senator/16">IS Unity.)

What I pointed out back in Apr-2006 remains true. http://journals.democraticunderground.com/pat_k/5">IMPEACH BUSH" is a message of hope and a declaration of our power

[pleah]

17. K&R That is good news. But, unfortunately, our reps won't do their job. It is left

to the ordinary citizens to do their work for them.

[rhett o rick]

19. Very concise and to the point. Do you have others? nm

[Senator]

20. K&R&ImpeachNow

[focusfan]

21. he should be in jail and impeached

but i don't see that happening

[The Stranger]

22. Was the Nancy Disaster there?

[spanone]

23. k&r

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i tried