"Historically, impeachment has been the recourse of lawless Congress...

[whistle]

...and it has been the tool to restrain a lawless Executive" according to this article. Impeachment is historically based on a case of a sitting president lying to the American public and for abusing his power as President. That would later be determined as "high crimes and misdemeanors" the constitutional language for "abuse of power" and also "treason".

Read on, this article does suggest that the new democratic leadership is both more liberal and more aggressive than the old and that "hope springs eternal".


<snip>
Wednesday, 10 August 2005, 7:35 pm
Trial by Constitution: Reflecting On Nixon's Resignation

By Stirling Newberry


Thirty-one years ago, on August 8th, Richard Nixon addressed the American public for the 37th time from the Oval Office. His message was that he was resigning the Presidency "effective noon tomorrow." It was the fall of a man who had risen in public life under a cloud, and had participated in five national elections on a major party ticket, more than any one else except Franklin Delano Roosevelt. For many who had been opposed to him from the beginning, it was a great weight lifted from the country. GB Trudeau had a metaphorical brick wall removed from in front of Doonesbury's White House.

In his speech Nixon acknowledged what had come to be recognized as the reality of impeachment: that it was a constitutional and deliberative process, and, at its root, a means for the American people to determine the destiny of the Executive. There have been four serious attempts at impeachment: Clinton and Nixon are both within living memory, and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson has entered into legend, both because of its metaphorical significance, and because the outcome was so decisive for politics in America. But the fourth serious attempt is almost forgotten, though it was the model for the Andrew Johnson impeachment: John Tyler.

Tyler is a historical oddity. He was the first President to come to office through the death of the President. He was also the first President to be voted out of his own party when the Whigs in Congress expelled him, and all but one member of his cabinet resigned. This made him, arguably, the only independent to occupy the Oval Office. The Whig Party, formed in response to what was perceived as Andrew Jackson's monarchical ways, found itself with a man as hard-willed as Jackson. When Tyler vetoed the Bank of the United States, which was the most important policy to the Whig Party, it precipitated a crisis within American governance.

After expelling Tyler, the Whigs attempted to introduce an amendment that would have made a simple majority of Congress capable of over-riding a veto. When this failed, and when they lost control of Congress, they turned to impeachment, hoping that enough Democrats would join the motion. The articles accused Tyler of using the veto wrongly, and of lying to the American public, for abusing his power as President. As later scholars would determine, "high crimes and misdemeanors" is constitutional language for "abuse of power."


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<line> http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0508/S00087.htm

[highnooner]

1. This article gives a stirring reason

for the Democrats to take the majority in the House and the Senate. The main issue must be Iraq and Bush's ruch to get there.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Not all people have a problem with "authority" however when that

"authority" is abused... misused, bandied about like a whip... upon those who can do nothing to stop it, then someone needs to step up.