Freedom Rider:
Conyers Must Decide
by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
HELP WANTED:
"Democrat in Michigan's 14th district needed
to replace House member. Must stand up to evil, tyrant boss from
San Francisco. Long hours required to uphold Constitution.
Applicant pledges to fight Bush regime. Must also be willing to
fight Democrats."
Congressman John Conyers has served 21 terms in office
and is now Chairman of the House Judiciary committee. He once promised to hold
impeachment hearings against President Bush or Vice President Cheney, but now
those words mean nothing. If he cared about the future of the country he would
either fight for the Constitution as he once did, or make
plans to retire. If he makes neither choice, he needs a hard fought
primary race to convince him that his political time has passed.
Bush is using every moment of his lame duck year to destroy
civil liberties at home and expand the American empire abroad. As usual
Democrats act like needy supplicants, hoping they can run out the clock
without confronting a president with a 31% approval rating.
"If the Democrats were to act on impeachment in 2008,
Bush would be stopped in his tracks."
John Conyers was a founding member of the Congress Black
Caucus. He was a member of the Judiciary committee that held impeachment
hearings against Richard Nixon in 1974. Those hearings were a great
success, forcing Nixon to resign. The twin effect of impeachment and
Ford's pardon of Nixon sent the Republican party into a tailspin. The Democrats
won resoundingly that November and Jimmy Carter won the presidential election
two years later.
That history is well worth remembering. If the Democrats
were to act on impeachment in 2008, Bush would be stopped in his tracks. Any
effort to find a pretext for war with Iran would be stopped. Signing statements
giving Bush authority to break the law would come to an end. The
Democratic presidential nominee would have a better chance to win and to
govern with Democratic control over both houses of Congress.
In 2006 Bush's plummeting popularity made Democratic victory
and Conyers' committee chairmanship a probability. It was a hopeful time,
especially because Conyers said he would hold impeachment hearings. Joy was short lived when Nancy Pelosi
declared that impeachment was off the table. Conyers waved the white flag in
the pages of the Washington Post in an op-ed entitled "No
Rush to Impeachment":
"So, rather than seeking impeachment, I have chosen
to propose comprehensive oversight of these alleged abuses. The oversight I
have suggested would be performed by a select committee made up equally of
Democrats and Republicans and chosen by the House speaker and the minority
leader."
"So-called oversight has
accomplished nothing."
That so-called oversight has accomplished nothing. In July
of 2007, the Senate and House Judiciary committees investigated the politically
motivated dismissals of United States attorneys. Both
committees issued subpoenas to White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten
and former counsel Harriet Miers. Bolton and Miers claimed executive privilege
and ignored the subpoenas. Bush faced no consequences for breaking the law and
treating congress like an irritant to be ignored.
Politicians understand one threat more than any other, the
possibility of losing their jobs to electoral defeat. Most incumbents have safe
seats, and little reason to be bold when political bosses give them marching
orders. Conyers is no different in that regard, but he is
also shrewd, and he continues to keep hopes alive by claiming that
impeachment is still possible.
In a recent
interview he testily claimed that Pelosi "can't stop me from anything
really." In the same conversation he immediately back pedaled, claiming
that the Republicans would use impeachment to demonize Democrats in the
upcoming elections. He didn't mention that Republicans' efforts to do the same
thing in November 2006 failed when Democrats won the day. He makes the bizarre
claim that a losing strategy should be feared.
Democratic voters across the country must do anything and
everything in their power to impeach Cheney and or Bush. Those Democrats,
especially those on the Judiciary committee, who oppose impeachment must
themselves be opposed. Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the rotten leadership
will be forced to take notice and act as most Americans want them to act.
"Those Democrats, especially those on the Judiciary
committee, who oppose impeachment must themselves be opposed."
Impeachment is the great issue of 2008, more so than the
presidential election. There is no
reason to believe that Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will stand up if Bush
starts a new war, suspends habeas corpus rights for the entire population, or
declares martial law. Impeachment will have two benefits. It will keep Bush
from doing further damage and it will put President Clinton or President Obama
on notice that Democrats will not stand for being ignored. We will have two
victories for the price of one.
Hopefully a good progressive candidate will emerge to run
against Conyers. Nostalgia for the old John Conyers, or sentiment about the
loss of a chairmanship held by a black person will only keep the tyranny alive.
"Let
black Democrats be black" was the Black Agenda Report rallying cry in 2006.
If Conyers won't act in the way black America wants him to, there is little
reason to fight for him. A concerted effort to impeach is the only hope left
for democracy. If our representatives won't do that, they must step aside and
cede their place to people who will.
Margaret Kimberley'sFreedom
Rider column appears weekly in BAR. Ms. Kimberley lives in New YorkCity, and
can be reached via e-Mail atMargaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgandaReport.Com. Ms.
Kimberley' maintains anedifying and frequently updated blog at freedomrider.blogspot.com. More
of herwork is also available at her Black Agenda Report archivepage.
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