Reply #11: With impeachment the legislative branch absolutely "judges" and "controls the executive". . .

[pat_k]

. . .and the judiciary.

Arbitrarily nullifying and violating U.S. Code at will by invoking the fascist fig leaf of executive unitary authoritarian power to "protect the nation" is an abomination in a True American. It is not complex. As noted above, you don't need a law degree, or even a high school diploma, to know that power like that is never freely given; it is only taken by deception or force.

Our commons will trumps all claims that any "issue" is too "complex" for the common people to understand. The notion that legal technicality and cynical misuse of the courts can trump our will or reality (like the fact that more Floridians entered the poll both to vote for Gore) is a notion that empowers fascists.

• the Constitution is a contract among ourselves;
• we yield NONE of our collective sovereignty to ANY institution or office we established;
• we give NO party to the contract the right to usurp or surrender our collective sovereignty.

We empowered Congress, the body through which we assert the sovereign will of We the People, the power to trump the actions of the officials in the executive and the judiciary by removing the officials for those actions.

With the power to impeach, Congress can overrule edicts of the Supreme Court that usurp our will -- as with Bush v. Gore -- by impeaching the justices responsible.

With the power to impeach, Congress can overrule edicts of the executive that usurp our will -- as with abusing signing statements to nullify our will, turning Americans into torturers, surrendering our moral authority to object when Americans are tortured by other parties to armed conflict, and conducting illegal surveillance of Americans.

The Constitution -- amended and entrusted to us to protect and perfect as we strive to "form a more perfect union" -- defines who we are. It embodies our hopes for what a True America can be. It is the product of our commitment to the audacious belief that common people can design and perfect a system -- the inviolate dictates, framework, officials, powers, evolving institutions and body of law -- that balances conflicting interests in a way that reflects common values and embodies the principle of consent.

Our Federal design is intended to ensure that the law is created, applied, and executed in a manner that best reflects our collective will as is possible in an imperfect world. The power to impeach -- the power to judge and control -- is key to that noble endeavor.