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I originally wrote this two weeks before I read Al Gore's The Assault On Reason. I am posting it again after reading his book because these words mean even more to me, even though he has stated that impeachment is not an option now. I really don't know if he truly believes that in his heart, but I do know that since reading his book I am even more convinced that impeachment is indeed the only way to regain what we have allowed to be taken from us, and that it too is not a political but a moral issue.
The words as written by Thomas Jefferson:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security”…
I cry when I read those words, because not only do people not speak that way anymore, they don’t think that way anymore. The spirit that bore this nation was not one that tolerated the machinations of those who would evince such a design to reduce them to the absolute despotism they traveled an ocean at great risk to escape. It was a spirit that understood the laws of nature and reason and applied those laws and that reason in designing a system of government that could then continue to evolve with the needs of the citizens of this nation for generations to come.
Thomas Jefferson understood human nature and also understood that we are bound as human beings morally to those laws in order for our Democracy to flourish. He trusted that down through the years to come that we as citizens of this nation would also understand this and be vigilant regarding allowing us to fall back to what we had fought so hard to break free of…that long train of abuses that led to the American Revolution.
The Founding Fathers were not warmongers. Indeed, they tried all other avenues of negotiation and diplomacy before finally realizing that King George was not someone you could be diplomatic with. And with the Boston Tea Party and the shot heard round the world, our legacy began. And it has been a legacy where generations before stood up against attempts to thwart our Democratic process and hold politicians accountable for falling prey to the excesses of greed and the immorality that politics had become since Jefferson’s time. Even with the talk of impeaching President Nixon for constitutional abuses, it was done so on both sides of the aisle I believe because it was considered a moral imperative for the continued existence of this Democratic Republic.
Now again, our country has fallen prey to those excesses and abuses like never before, but where is our moral compass? At what point will we now go beyond politics to morality in calling for accountability for the long train of abuses that now seeks to evince a design to bring us to absolute despotism? To even state that impeachment of this administration is “off the table” is an offense to the very Constitution that was written to protect our citizens and those who sacrificed all they had to see it signed, and a gross dereliction of our duty as citizens to throw off such government and provide guards for our future security. It is a betrayal of the very spirit that we call America.
However, we no longer live in the country of Thomas Jefferson even though we still walk the same land he did. Our country has now become one of violence, greed, selfishness, apathy, military and corporate domination at the expense of the poor, the weak and vulnerable, and an exercise that seeks to destroy all that we have worked so long to achieve. And our politics emulates those characteristics in every dollar it takes to continue their own pursuits with a total disregard for human nature, the rule of law and of reason, and the moral compass that guided the writing of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
There is then no doubt that we as a people are at a crossroads as a nation. Do we continue to support the politics of fear and immorality that places its own pursuits over the whole as we slip into that despotism, or do we as the inheritants of the legacy of Thomas Jefferson seek to disenthrall ourselves from the distractions that have been successful in our looking away from it all?
This isn’t about just one election in this immoral system that is going to make it all better. This is about righting a wrong that has been building up for decades. This is about finally standing up to the system as a whole and reflecting upon those words that Jefferson wrote and pulling these poisonous weeds out by their roots. Only then can we as a people feel confident that the legacy began by our Founding Fathers has come full circle.
Impeachment to me is not a partisan political issue. It is a moral issue. It is a Constitutional duty. It is our legacy. If we the people do not take politics beyond “politics” to morality and continue to accept this status quo, how do we explain that to our children? How do we then inspire them to do better? The long train of abuses and constitutional abrogation that has brought this country to the brink of despotism can no longer be tolerated by representatives of the American people who swore an oath to protect and defend this nation… not just one party, but this nation.
Anything less is simply unconscionable.
And there is then no better way to end this than how it was begun:
"The essential principles of our Government... form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty and safety." Thomas Jefferson
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