Open Letter to Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of Our House of Representatives

 by Scott Creighton

Madam Speaker;

“Off the table”

This comment, the one that you have often repeated through-out your short tenure as Speaker of the House, is supremely offensive in many ways to a large percentage of the population of the United States. The inherent implications of this statement are vast and deeply troubling on many different levels. So much so that there are several active plans to see you replaced or even impeached before your tenure is complete.

In light of this fact, it is important that you understand why it is that so many people wish to see you removed from the Speaker’s seat so that there is no misunderstanding within your few remaining supporters and the next person to occupy that lofty position. 

It is not politics or some misdirected anger toward the White House that has caused your pending demise; it is your failure to appreciate the level of sophistication of the people of whom you serve. You have clearly underestimated us, Madam Speaker.

It is your failure, Mrs. Pelosi, and your failure alone, that will bring you to the lowly place in history as the first woman to hold the office and the first Speaker ever to be replaced during session for failing to adhere to the wishes of the people and the letter of the Constitution itself.

There had been so much promise upon your acceptance of that historic moment when you became Speaker of the House. But with great promise there always lies the risk of even greater disappointment. Most troubling still is that this mockery you have made of our nation’s very foundation has been by choice alone; your choice.

Regardless of any reason you give to justify your comment and your refusal to hold this criminal administration accountable for their actions, the simple facts remains that you never even tried and that you had no intention of trying to do your constitutional duty upon taking office. This is the only real definition of failure that matters.

You failed us by choosing them. And that is the unpardonable nature of your tenure.

You have shielded this rogue administration with the power of the office that we have loaned you. So now, understandably, we choose to take it back.

First of all, the comment “off the table” comes from the notion that somehow there is some form of negotiation taking place. For that is literally what the statement means. However, though politics these days seem to be one prolonged negotiation after another, there are, at times, still moral absolutes within our system of government. There are still crimes that are unpardonable; there are still actions that are unforgivable; and yes, Madam Speaker, there are offenses so grave to the ideal of democracy itself, that they are not unimpeachable. Ever.

They are never “off the table”.

This is not a partisan issue. No democrat or republican can claim or deny these absolutes as their own. They are, and must remain, the very bedrock of our society both political and social. For in them lay the very notions of crime and punishment and of… justice. To be brief; are we a nation of laws or are we not? And is any man, regardless of position, subject to the rule of law when his brother is not?

The precedent you have set by taking impeachment “off the table” is a dangerous one in that it not only freed this administration from the possibility of accountability, after they had already proven that they will act in manners illegal and immoral to suit their own needs and desires, but that action has had a trickle down effect on other, lower officials, who have come to expect the same kind of free hand in whatever actions they so choose to do.

This “negotiation” of yours, Madam Speaker, has failed to achieve any relevant stability or observable humility within the Bush Administration. They continue to pursue their financial and personal objectives without fear of recourse; without fear of us. And that is ultimately the purpose of true democracy, Madam Speaker.

Our elected officials must always respect the will and the power of the people. Your “off the table” policy has stripped us of our last measure of control.

And this leads us to the next tragically flawed implication of your statement; hubris.

Mrs. Pelosi your career in public service, until this point, has been an honorable one.

There were none who could say upon your acceptance as Speaker of the House that you did not deserve to be honored in such a way. Many watched you accept the position with a sense of pride that comes from knowing that we as a nation had finally reached a new pinnacle of equality but, that this was not done as a token gesture. It was a moment of accomplishment for a life devoted to public service.

But deserved or not, earned or not, the position itself and ultimately the power that comes with it, do not belong to the person who holds them. The Speaker is simply the transient steward of a constitutional valve designed to check and limit the grasp of the Executive branch.

Put simply, it is not within your individual rights, Madam Speaker, to withhold the rule of law or to determine on your own that impeachment is ‘off the table”. Your job is simply to adhere to the constitution and to bring forward the proceedings as they were designed by the founders of this country.

The need for hearings of impeachment of this administration is justified under the rule of law. No reasonable witness to our current political situation could disagree with that. Laws have been broken and the constitution itself is under great threat of being diminished even more by this rogue administration.

Having brought us into a national crisis though means of faulty and manufactured intelligence this administration is positioning itself to do the very same thing yet again in another sovereign nation that poses us no threat. This criminality, though not unprecedented, is remarkably bold and unabashedly unapologetic in its disregard for the will of the people of this country and the rule of law.

Your failure to uphold your constitutional obligation to hold impeachment hearings for the Bush administration makes you not only negligent of your duty to protect the people of the United States of America but may even imply a criminal compliance that makes you an accessory to their crimes.

For these reasons and these reasons alone, you will either step down as Speaker of the House of Representatives or you will be replaced by the people whom you were chosen to serve.