To Impeach or Not To Impeach... Is That the Question?

Today, the House Judiciary Committee conducted its hearing on Executive Power and its Constitutional Limits. I've seen about half of the hearing so far. I caught a little bit of it live this afternoon while in the midst of taking a nap, and started watching from the beginning on the C-SPAN replay at 8pm earlier tonight. I've got the rest of the DVR for later viewing pleasure.

The impetus of the hearing, from what I gather, is twofold: first, the general inquiry and investigation that this committee pursues relative to oversight of the executive branch; and second, the proposed articles of impeachment of President Bush as submitted by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH). The opening remarks by members of the committee quickly turned into a partisan debate. The Democrats condemned the massive offenses of the Bush administration. The Republicans scoffed at the idea of impeachment, called the bluff of the Dems, and declared the hearing as a waste of time. I tried to determine if Chairman Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), who has served in Congress since 1965, would be able to stay awake for the duration of the hearing.

Anyhow... I've come to be a fan (so far) of one of the witnesses - Bruce Fein. His remarks which I've seen thus far have been a passionate call to protect our civil liberties. The Constitution, in my mind, spells out the separation of powers and the check and balances between our branches of government quite clearly. In addition, the check of the States and the People over the central government are quite clear. These principles have been trampled by executive, legislative and judicial power grabs for a long time. However, the Bush administration has arguably been the most egregious offender since the FDR years. Fein made these points (by the way, he served in the Reagan administration) clear and calls for impeachment.

I'm not certain myself that impeachment is really a beneficial track at this point. I have no doubt that there have been offenses. But, this is nothing new. There is little that can be done with a runaway executive branch. Congress can withhold funds. But, honestly, when was the last time Congress didn't want to spend money. Congress can impeach. But, this would just be a highly political circus. Or... the people can wait, and vote in a new administration. Unfortunately, history tells us that we'll get more of the same as one executive just seems to inherit all of the power of the previous.