Open Letter to Rep. David Price

August 26, 2007

Dear Congressman Price:

Thank you for meeting with the GRIM delegation during your August break. Thanks for allowing the media to cover our discussion, for listening carefully and for your candid assessment of the Bush presidency as “the worst in the history of the country.” And thank you for agreeing with us that Pres. Bush and Vice Pres. Cheney have violated the Constitution. “You don’t have to convince me how bad things are,” you quickly told us.

Your statement allowed us to move directly to our purpose for requesting the meeting: What can you, Cong. Price, do to help bring charges against Messrs. Bush and Cheney? Our Constitution provides the only people who can bring such charges are the members of the House of Representatives. You are our Representative. That’s why our grass roots movement for impeachment always comes back to you.

We invited you to rise above party and, as a respected Southerner with a long record of fairness and honesty in the House, to reach out to your twelve colleagues in the North Carolina delegation to appeal to their sense of patriotism and love for our Constitution to take up the moral banner of impeachment.

In making this invitation, we believe we were speaking for the majority of the voters in the 4th District. This belief is based on 19 months of holding forums, collecting petitions, and talking with thousands of your constituents. We, an all-volunteer army, were only able to transcribe 640 names of 4th District voters by the time of our meeting, out of the thousands who practically grab our petitions to sign. We are confident that in the next few weeks, as it becomes clear that Bush and Cheney will continue to stonewall the American people about their betrayal of the moral and constitutional principles of our nation, the demand for impeaching them will spread throughout our congressional district and North Carolina.

Your response to our invitation was to ask us to weigh, like you were doing, any downsides to impeachment. You said many Democrats believed that impeachment could take the air out of the Democratic Party and that impeachment proceedings might help Republicans win the White House and Congress in 2008. You argued it was more important to try to “turn things around” through legislation, implying that many important Democratic initiatives would be sidetracked if Congress began impeachment proceedings. You said the issue of whether to impeach was a tactical question and that those of us who believe impeachment is a high priority were not considering the ethical consequences of distracting Congress and Americans from the important 2008 elections.

Unfortunately we had to end the meeting before we had a chance to discuss with you the inherent partisan contradiction in these arguments. Such arguments are perfectly logical if one believes the Constitution and our nation’s future is only dear to Democrats. Perhaps the bitter Washington partisanship has caused some Democratic strategists to forget that Republicans love our Constitution too. Independents love it also. Many non-Democrats have sacrificed their lives to protect it.

GRIM believes our nation is experiencing a Constitutional crisis. The Constitution is all that stands between our rights and the mendacious arrogation of power by the White House cabal. Beginning impeachment proceedings is, we believe, a moral imperative for every patriot—no matter what her party affiliation. We must teach our children, the rest of the world, and future Presidents, that no one is above the Constitution. Only by subordinating our Constitution to one party can one suggest that impeachment would take the air out of the Democratic Party.

We, like our founders, see impeachment as the emergency oxygen tank to be rolled out when necessary to save our democratic form of government. Impeachment will harness voter anger and siphon cynicism out of the body politic. Impeachment is the antidote for apathy that festers in our people when White House hypocrisy, arrogance and mendacity are not indicted. Impeachment is the first step on the mountain our nation must climb to regain the moral high ground. When the betrayed millions see you, with our strong support, take that first step, it will be a wonderful start toward rebuilding the trust that holds society and the world together.

Cong. Price, please consider our position carefully. The U.S. Constitution is not a distraction. You can’t take it off the table. The Constitution IS the table on which our government rests. When partisan-minds argue impeachment might hurt the Democratic Party in 2008, inherent in that argument is an assumption that Rep. Walter Jones and Rep. Howard Coble don’t care about our Constitution. Professor Price, we saw your eyes glimmer when we invited you to organize a breakfast seminar with your 12 North Carolina colleagues about our constitutional crisis. We saw you were intrigued by the vision we described of packed auditoriums of Black and White voters from our District coming together to support your leadership to save our Constitution.

Let us continue this discussion as you search your conscience for how to best use your experience, your reputation, and your time in the next few months. For our part, we are at peace with our consciences and our Constitution. We will continue bringing the good news of impeachment to patriots of all political persuasions.

Sincerely,
Alan McSurely, Member
Grass Roots Impeachment Movement Steering Committee

CC: 4th Congressional District Citizens