Monday, July 23, 2007

An open letter to Vern Ehlers (R)MI

below is a copy of an email I sent to my congressmen, asking him to get behind Rep. Kucinich's call for impeachment. If you wish to contact your congressperson, you may do so at this site.


Mr. Ehlers,
Back in 2002, I wrote you asking you to vote against the authorization for war with Iraq, A war that is illegal under international law, no matter how much support the president had from congress. You were kind enough to respond back to my letter, in effect stating that according to an article in a magazine, you felt that the invasion was the right thing to do. Many years and many deaths later, we are stuck in an endless war that could have been prevented if you had listened to a constituent, and not the media.
Now here it is almost five years later, and things haven't improved concerning Iraq. One of the main reasons for us fighting there is because Vice-President Cheney manipulated intelligence, a fact borne out by too many sources to quote here. This is beyond his authority. We also have a president who refuses to be held accountable for any of his actions. Our political system has a series of checks and balances to prevent the types of abuses that the current administration is involved in. So I ask of you: Which is more important, the constitution and the country it protects, or the party for which you belong?
If you say the former, than I urge you to contact Rep Conyers and agree to start impeachment proceedings. Then, if there is just cause for impeachment, I ask you to vote for it, just as I would expect you to vote against it if there is no cause.
If you say the latter, then I hope you remember this missive when in the future, another president continues the arrogant abuses first conceived by the current administration, and your children, or perhaps your grandchildren ask you why our country has strayed so far from it's original intentions, that you had an oppurtunity to stop this now, but chose instead to be loyal to your party moreso than to the constitution you swore to uphold. Thank you.

5 comments:

Kathy said...

Great letter, Lew. You make it hard for Ehlers to say no to impeachment, but I doubt he'll see it the way you and most Americans do. He consistently votes against the interests of his constituents.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry. I'm sure that Ehlers won't support any abusive powers being passed on to the next president. He'll probably to have them revoked just before a Democrat takes office.

Snave said...

Fantastic letter, Lew. I think I had better write one, modeled after yours, and send it to my Repub US Rep Greg Walden (a bush rubber-stamper) and to my GOP Senator Gordon Smith (who has spoken out against the war already but who I believe needs to take stronger action against it.)

Good job. We ALL need to be doing this kind of thing. Regardless of our political party affiliation, it just seems like protecting our Constitution and our American way is something we can all agree upon. But it is a tough sell getting people to agree that the greater threat to our country's survival is currently not someone in a cave in Afghanistan but the people in the Bush administration.

Undeniable Liberal said...

Imagine the screeching from the Reich-Wing if President Clinton or President Obama uses just a little of the Unitary Executive Privelege power that Chimperor Fucktardius claims to have.

Frederick said...

Ya, I think it's time to give my rep a ring...