I hear a lot of disgruntled Democrats calling in to Air America.  I read a lot of them here and elsewhere.  The Democrats in Congress, as a bloc, are failing us. There are certainly some Democrats in both Houses of Congress trying to do the right thing.  There are now over 20 co-sponsors in the House for HR 333 to impeach Cheney.  Last I checked, 77 Representatives had signed a pledge to vote against any military funding that does not specifically outline a plan to remove all combat troops from Iraq before 2009. Dennis Kucinich is offering America a truly progressive platform from a candidate whose record shows that he really stands by what he says, from standing up to death threats when he was mayor of Cleveland to being one of a very few who were not swept up in the post 9/11 mass hysteria, but kept his reason and voted against the Patriot Act, and against the AUMF.  Great, but...

So, the Democrats assumed the majority in both Houses this year, apparently at least in part due to changing public opinion about the conflict in Iraq.  Yet Congress has not been able to get any substantive measure passed to reduce troop levels or end the conflict, even force a veto, much less actually change our course there.  One of the reasons for this has been the Republican filibuster in the Senate.

There are many lessons we as a nation should be learning from the experience of the Bush administration.  I have already posted a previous diary stating my belief that we should re-examine the notion of the presidency itself, but that didn't meet with much support here.  I don't know why many so called progressives are actually clinging to the status quo, but I will leave that alone for now.  I have another idea about a constitutional amendment we should all be considering that I think might meet with more approval. We'll see.

George W Bush has maintained an approval rating below 30% for how long now?  46% of Americans currently believe he should be removed from office, while 54% believe Cheney should.  Articles of Impeachment for Cheney have already been introduced in Congress, and while they have not been brought to the floor, the topic has been "out there" at least since the November elections.

Along with the "war" in Iraq, the other big reason for the change of majorities in both houses of Congress in the November 2006 election was the perception of corruption and dishonesty, especially among Republicans.  In 1994, the Republicans gained control of Congress by promising to bring the issues that were important to the people to the fore, based on a general understanding that the Democratic Congress had become unresponsive to the issues that mattered to the people.

Not long after that Bill Clinton became only the second President ever impeached.  Nevertheless, investigations and hearings on the Reagan-Bush administration, especially regarding Iran-Contra could have led to impeachment in a slightly different political atmosphere, and many would argue that they should have been impeached for that.