[Oe List ...] Symbolic Impeachment

[LAURELCG at aol.com]

I am forwarding this from a man with whom I studied at the University of 
Creation Spirituality.  His subject line was, "taking back my power."  I was 
honored that he called me Sunday night to consult about whether or not I felt it 
would be ethical to put this out on the internet.  I thought it was very 
powerful, and I also said that I hadn't been very supportive of the impeachment 
movement because it is such a destructive, polarizing process (though not to the 
extent the war and other crimes he enumerates, as I reflect on it.)  Anyway, it 
strikes me as a powerful form of prayer, more powerful as I read it than when 
he was telling me about it on the phone.  If anyone wants to reply, I'll send 
it on to him, since he requests anonymity at the internet level.

Blessings,
Jann McGuire

Hello Friends, 


I got to thinking this morning how our government derives its power from "We 
the People", and in a simple minded way I thought, "How can we take our power 
back from the people who are misusing it?"


I was thinking, "It's a kind of mystical thing, the way we give our power. 
Sure,

elections are familiar to us now, but really the way we aggregate and 
delegate executive,

legislative and justice functions is a highly sophisticated act of collective 
belief. 


"What is belief? It's a way of crystallizing a set of thoughts that seem true 
to us, and

allowing them to guide our thoughts and actions. Belief is a foundation for 
consciousness

to build on. Maybe if enough of us simply withdrew our consciousness and our 
agreement to uphold that construction in consciousness which gives power of 
this regime, their outward power would gradually wither away and the healthy 
parts of our system would adjust, restoring a sense of balance and harmony to 
what we are told is a government BY the people, FOR the people." 


I thought this idea had merit (though an article I read by Bill Moyers has a 
lot more to

say about this subject. He quotes Woodrow Wilson who said something that 
could be equally true for us today, "What we have to determine now, as Wilson said 
in his day, “is whether we are big enough…whether we are free enough, to 
take possession again of the government which is our own. We haven’t had free 
access to it, our minds have not touched it by way of guidance, in half a 
generation, and now we are engaged in nothing less than the recovery of what was made 
with our own hands, and acts only by our delegated authority.”


As we face that challenge even today, a story about Helen Keller is worth 
remembering.

Toward the end of her career, as she was speaking at a Midwestern college, a 
student

asked: “Miss Keller, is there anything that could have been worse than losing 
your

sight?” Helen Keller replied: “Yes, I could have lost my vision.”" I 
encourage you to

read Bill Moyers' article, "Discovering What Democracy Means":

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0212-31.htm) 


Any way, here's what I did. (Somewhat edited with the benefit of hindsight.)


I said my morning prayers at my altar. I lit a special candle. I downloaded a 
picture of

Bush and Cheney (a nice one too I might add - see below) and one of Nancy 
Pelosi (she's

in red, with the word "power" behind her!) 


I put the Picture of Bush and Cheney on my altar and said, "I note that the 
power to

remove a President and Vice President is set out in the Constitution for high 
crimes and

misdemeanors. In so far as you have been given power by "We the People", 
under the

constitution of the United States of America, and in so far as you have 
abused that power by acts and negligence, in so far as you have acted in bad faith, 
in so far as you have illegally authorized killings, torture, detention 
without trial, rendition for the

purpose of torture, in so far as your efforts to increase the power of the 
Presidency has usurped and corrupted our constitutional government and the rule 
of law, and in so far as your policies have made this country less safe, more 
hated, and more indebted

internationally, you have in my opinion, disqualified yourselves from holding 
your

elected office and I therefore withdraw my agreement to you holding any power 
to hold the offices of President and Vice President." 


"I remove this power symbolically now by extinguishing this candle and 
folding your

photograph on itself. You now have power over yourselves only. You are now 
subject to the laws of this nation, and international laws that we have 
ratified. You are now answerable to those laws."


I picked up their photo and folded it over, so that they faced each other and 
the blank

side of the paper was facing out. This represents to me their power turned on 
themselves, and a fresh start for the rest of us. 


I continued, "Your time in office is now over, and I ask for your 
resignation. I call on

Congress to impeach you immediately if you do not resign. I call on your 
Cabinet and

political appointees at all levels of government to resign also." 


I then placed Nancy Pelosi's photo on the altar in front of the candle and 
lit the candle

again, this time using the light from a special candle on the altar rather 
than a match. 


"Nancy Pelosi, since you have been elected Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, you are the next in line of succession to the Presidency. Thus, with 
the removal of power from both the President and the Vice President, executive 
power devolves to you. In accordance  with the Constitution of the United 
States, I now give you my power to

execute the laws of the United States, to command our military forces, and to 
act as the representative of all the people--in other words to become the 
President of the United States. 


"I do this trusting you will do so honestly, effectively and in good faith, 
so that all

may be at peace and justice may prevail." 


Her photo continues to be on my altar.


The intention here is entirely peaceful and on the level of consciousness. It 
is intended

for peaceful purposes only. 


I share this thinking that there may be others who want to duplicate it or 
develop this

action. Feel free to share it, but if you do pass on this email, I request 
you to remove

my name and email address so that it is anonymous. Thank you. 


I would be interested to hear any feedback. 

PS. If anyone wishes to see / use the photos I used, here they are:


http://www.apfn.org/apfn/bush_cheney.jpg


http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:zSi90quLWmiCGM:http://radfilms.com/NAR%2
520Pelosi.jpeg