Regretably I'd Now Vote to Impeach the President

In the 2000 election I worked harder than most to get G.W. Bush elected President. I was in charge of Arkansas Right to Life's Union County effort to distrubute 5,000 voter guides to people which highlighted Bush's position on abortion with Al Gore's. I have made a sad journey from that place to the place where I am now- if I were in Congress and properly worded articles of impeachment were before me, I'd almost certainly vote to impeach him.

The man has exhibited no respect whatsoever for Constitutional limits on the power of his own office. The fourth amendment says that the people shall be secure in their effects from unreasonable search and seizure, nor shall any search be conducted without obtaining a warrant. Bush may not be watching the borders, but he is doing everything he can to watch the citizens of this country, probable cause or no. That warrant part is real important. It means the executive has a check and balance on its power. It has to go to another co-equal branch of government, the judiciary, to get permission to search.

They normally don't take long to get- judges issue them in the middle of the night in their pajamas. In certain emergency situations there is even a provision to get the warrants 48 hours after the search has been conducted. I'm not OK with that, but even that seems to be too restrictive for our Police-state President. What he wants is a blank check to monitor the communications of all Americans all the time with no outside scrutiny.

First we learn that his phone monitoring, despite his claims that they were only being used against Al-Quida suspects, are actually being used in mass against millions of ordinary Americans most of whom are not suspected of any crime. Because I speak out on public issues, my guess is that they have the phone numbers of everyone who called me or I called since this sorry business began. That can have a chilling effect on associating with those who critisize the government.

Now we learn that he wants to get in your mail without bothering to get a warrant. With the electronic communications one could at least argue that it lends itself to mass-monitoring so that a warrant for each case would be difficult and that the speed of electronic communications necessitates time-dependent analysis. What even inadequate excuse could be offered for this latest violation of the Constitution?

What makes his actions even more apalling is that they were done in a quiet "signing statement" after a bill was passed by Congress that specifically strengthened privacy protections for mail. If he had a problem with that, he should have vetoed it. Instead, he signed it and then quietly signed a memo saying that his "understanding" of the law basically meant that it did not apply to him whenever he felt like it shouldn't! Why even have a Congress when the executive can ignore their laws at will? Why have a judiciary if citizen's effects can be rifled without warrant and men imprisoned without trial?

I hope my fellow citizens realize the seriousness of these abuses before they grow so common and pervasive that all our freedoms are endangered.