March in My Name
Stopping in at the Blue Moose Coffee House at the end of our cross-country journey, owner Wes Bergmann asked if we had found hope. I said, “Yes, we found hope here and there with individuals and small communities along the way.” Wes shook his head, “It shouldn’t be so hard, should it?” I agreed. It shouldn’t be something that we had to travel 15,000 miles to find, but we did.
We found places like Anapolis Royal in Nova Scotia, and Sackville, New Brunswick; small business owners like Wes at the Blue Moose Coffee House, Carson Carrah’s Bakery in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, Mom’s Café on St. Joseph Island, Ontario, and Brad Goedkoop’s Kingfisher Woodworks in Wilder, Vermont. But the brightest spot of hope for us was the State of Vermont – independent minded, anti-development, pro small farms and rural neighborhoods, and a hotbed for social and political activism. There is even a movement going on to secede from the United States. 'Second Vermont Republic' is a nonviolent citizens' network and think tank committed to the return of Vermont to its status as an independent republic. Quite an undertaking. Even more impressive is that through the Town Meeting tradition, more than 30 Vermont towns have debated and passed resolutions for the impeachment of President Bush and his administration. One spokesperson said, "This is clearly not a cry of protest, but the start of action — an impeachment insurrection that will lead to the reclamation of our Constitution, Vermonters are angry and energized. We are taking the power that is sovereign in us and will use it to restore the Constitution. We will show the world that America has not sunk to the depths of violent madness that is the Bush administration."
And if I doubted that one person could make a difference, my hopes were renewed on Saturday with this news story, which has been covered by ABC, CBS, MSNBC, and many other major news sources:: VERMONT MAN HITS ROAD TO LOBBY FOR IMPEACHMENT. John Nirenberg, a 60-year-old author and academic from Brattleboro, VT plans to walk from Boston to Washington, D.C., to confront House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in hopes of persuading Congress to take up the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Wearing a 'Save the Constitution, Impeach Bush and Cheney,' sandwich-board style sign, Nirenberg hopes to rally support for an issue Pelosi has said is no longer on the table. “This is about satisfying my conscience. I just don’t want to be the guy who says in five years that I regret not having stood up and said something. I’m walking from Faneuil Hall to House Speaker Pelosi’s office to encourage her to put impeachment 'back on the table.' Can’t come with me? I’ll march in your name.” He starts his march from Boston today. His website, MARCH IN MY NAME, tells how we can all take part in his effort. We have signed his petition online, and given our full support to this urgent issue. We cannot stand by and watch the destruction of our nation. As John Nirenberg says, “This is our duty as citizens, our duty to what is left of our good old-fashioned American idealism and our duty to future generations.” Bob added his own personal message to the petition, which reads as follows:
Open Letter to Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi:
There is a major irony in the fact that senior members of the Democratic Party are refusing to even consider the possibility of impeachment. There has never been a more inept, destructive and corrupt administration in the history of the United States; there has never been so much damage done to the constitution, the civil rights of the people, the balance of powers, and the reputation of this country abroad; add to that this administrations engagement in an illegal war, the threat of another preemptive war, the responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians, the rape of our economy, and so much more, and yet the one remedy given by the constitution is "off the table". What insulting nonsense. If not now, when would be a more appropriate time Ms. Pelosi? Are we really to believe that the exercise of this constitutional prerogative is somehow inconvenient?
If you are in fact an elected representative of the people, then I ask that you hear our voices, and that the unusual notion of common sense be brought to bear on this moment of history. You have it in your power to stop this administration from further destruction, and to let our people and the people of the world know that this chapter of our history is anathema, that as Americans we reject these people and their foul deeds. If you cannot find either the wisdom or the courage to act, then at least have the decency to step down and let someone who does have the chair. ... Bob Weimer
We found places like Anapolis Royal in Nova Scotia, and Sackville, New Brunswick; small business owners like Wes at the Blue Moose Coffee House, Carson Carrah’s Bakery in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, Mom’s Café on St. Joseph Island, Ontario, and Brad Goedkoop’s Kingfisher Woodworks in Wilder, Vermont. But the brightest spot of hope for us was the State of Vermont – independent minded, anti-development, pro small farms and rural neighborhoods, and a hotbed for social and political activism. There is even a movement going on to secede from the United States. 'Second Vermont Republic' is a nonviolent citizens' network and think tank committed to the return of Vermont to its status as an independent republic. Quite an undertaking. Even more impressive is that through the Town Meeting tradition, more than 30 Vermont towns have debated and passed resolutions for the impeachment of President Bush and his administration. One spokesperson said, "This is clearly not a cry of protest, but the start of action — an impeachment insurrection that will lead to the reclamation of our Constitution, Vermonters are angry and energized. We are taking the power that is sovereign in us and will use it to restore the Constitution. We will show the world that America has not sunk to the depths of violent madness that is the Bush administration."
And if I doubted that one person could make a difference, my hopes were renewed on Saturday with this news story, which has been covered by ABC, CBS, MSNBC, and many other major news sources:: VERMONT MAN HITS ROAD TO LOBBY FOR IMPEACHMENT. John Nirenberg, a 60-year-old author and academic from Brattleboro, VT plans to walk from Boston to Washington, D.C., to confront House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in hopes of persuading Congress to take up the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Wearing a 'Save the Constitution, Impeach Bush and Cheney,' sandwich-board style sign, Nirenberg hopes to rally support for an issue Pelosi has said is no longer on the table. “This is about satisfying my conscience. I just don’t want to be the guy who says in five years that I regret not having stood up and said something. I’m walking from Faneuil Hall to House Speaker Pelosi’s office to encourage her to put impeachment 'back on the table.' Can’t come with me? I’ll march in your name.” He starts his march from Boston today. His website, MARCH IN MY NAME, tells how we can all take part in his effort. We have signed his petition online, and given our full support to this urgent issue. We cannot stand by and watch the destruction of our nation. As John Nirenberg says, “This is our duty as citizens, our duty to what is left of our good old-fashioned American idealism and our duty to future generations.” Bob added his own personal message to the petition, which reads as follows:
Open Letter to Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi:
There is a major irony in the fact that senior members of the Democratic Party are refusing to even consider the possibility of impeachment. There has never been a more inept, destructive and corrupt administration in the history of the United States; there has never been so much damage done to the constitution, the civil rights of the people, the balance of powers, and the reputation of this country abroad; add to that this administrations engagement in an illegal war, the threat of another preemptive war, the responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians, the rape of our economy, and so much more, and yet the one remedy given by the constitution is "off the table". What insulting nonsense. If not now, when would be a more appropriate time Ms. Pelosi? Are we really to believe that the exercise of this constitutional prerogative is somehow inconvenient?
If you are in fact an elected representative of the people, then I ask that you hear our voices, and that the unusual notion of common sense be brought to bear on this moment of history. You have it in your power to stop this administration from further destruction, and to let our people and the people of the world know that this chapter of our history is anathema, that as Americans we reject these people and their foul deeds. If you cannot find either the wisdom or the courage to act, then at least have the decency to step down and let someone who does have the chair. ... Bob Weimer
posted by Looking for Hope | 10:59 PM
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