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I
hear members of Congress talking about how concerned they are
and how wrong it would be if our troops had to experience defeat
in Iraq. They want our troops to
experience a win. But how can soldiers engaged in an
illegal war experience a win? What does
winning an illegal war mean? Does it mean
that we will not give up until we are able to extricate
ourselves without having to pay a price for our war
crimes? Is that victory?
If
Bush had not already done everything in his power to destroy
what used to be our Constitution and International law, not
only would he and his immediate cronies be tried for war
crimes, so would every member of Congress.
Every
member of Congress should have and could have done more than
they did do to stop those crimes from continuing.
Under
Article VI of our Constitution which includes the
Nuremberg Principles, that was their duty and responsibility.
Tell me, who under the terms of Nuremberg, in this
administration or this Congress, is innocent?
Every
member of the House should have offered up articles of
impeachment when they saw that crimes were committed,
particularly when they couldn’t get their party to speak
with one voice to stop the carnage.
Instead
they surrendered their allegiance to party leaders in an
attempt to protect their own careers at the expense of the
Constitution, their oath of
office, and also the homes, lives, and limbs of hundreds of thousands of innocent people.
And when asked why they didn’t speak out, the only
excuse any of them give is that it would have been a
useless exercise because they ultimately would not be able to
get enough votes to succeed, as if that should matter.
We send our kids into battle and expect them to fight
even if it means their death or dismemberment. When
told to fight, they fight. We tell them they’re being sent to defend the
Constitution. If we expect our
soldiers--our children--to fight without knowing ahead of time if they will win or lose, isn't it
reasonable shouldn't we expect our elected officials to fight
to preserve and protect the Constitution at home... even
if they're not sure they can win? Didn’t
they take the same oath our soldiers took? Shouldn't we
expect some semblance of courage? Members of Congress
are not going to
die in battle or lose their arms or legs. Apparently
moral courage is a lot more rare in the halls of government
than physical courage is on the battlefield. Why is
that?
And
by now every member of the Senate should have spoken out in defense
of the Constitution, too, asking members of the House to
submit those articles. Why didn’t they?
Didn’t they think torture was a crime? Didn’t
they think the loss of habeas corpus was a scurrilous attack
on the Constitution? What about signing
statements, renditions, indefinite detentions, the loss of
privacy, the misuse of the FBI, criminal negligence, no more
fair trials, no right to know what crime you are being tried
for, or what the evidence is against you? No
right to be represented by an attorney? What
about dropping depleted uranium weapons and cluster bombs in
populated areas, bombing hospitals, lying to Congress, lying
to the American people, lying to the United Nations? In alll of
these things our so-called commander-in-chief is saying, “I am not only above the law; now I
am the law; and the Constitution is just a goddamn piece of
paper.”
For
US Representatives and Senators to remain silent in the face
of all these egregious crimes is nothing less than treason, a
national disgrace beyond anything we have experienced in our
history heretofore.
So
what are we to do now that we see our government has betrayed
us? I believe anyone who failed to live up
to his or her oath of office ought to be removed from
government.
Both
major parties have betrayed their country. But
nothing in the Constitution requires that elected officials
belong to a political party. Can’t
we find at least 535+2 honorable citizens among 300
million of us who can be trusted to keep their oath of office?
I
understand how some citizens might be so completely oblivious
to what's been going on, that they are prepared to vote for these
people again come next election. But that
would be a travesty. In fact, not only are
many citizens prepared to vote them into office again, they
intend to promote two of them to the high office of President
and Vice-President. What a disgrace.
In
very real terms, we are no longer living under the rule of law
that our Founding Fathers intended. Both
national and international law is in tatters. The
Great Experiment is in shambles.
We
need to take back our government. If
elected officials won’t defend our Republic, isn't it up to
us? There is no one else. If we
don’t act now, how will we explain to our children
how their freedom was lost on our watch?
What
we need now is a revolution… not a
revolution where you shoot people or make a ruckus, but a
revolution of the spirit; a revolution of courage and
determination where you fight for your country and your
freedom and your dignity. How do you do
that? Above all else, you do it by refusing
to vote for people who have betrayed you.
But
can we win? I say, that's not the operative
question.
We don’t have to know who will win before the battle
is even begun any more than our soldiers need to know if they
will win before they take up arms. All
we need to know is that if we want to live in freedom; if we
want our children to live in peace; if we want to preserve
our republic, and if we want our republic to be administered by
public servants who can be counted on to keep their word of
honor, then we have no choice. We must do what needs to
be done. We need to start over. We
need to find people who will truly be honorable guardians of
the public trust. It’s time to fight the good fight; for
freedom and for our posterity. And yes… I
believe we can win.
We
can win if we can stand together with a common purpose.
I'm
asking you...
Will
you stand with me so that I can stand with you?
Mark A. Goldman
Citizen
and Candidate
for President of the United States
To ask a question or see
answers to other questions put to the candidate, click Here.
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