In Aug. 1974, then-President Nixon resigned as President of the U.S. He resigned because Congress had approved articles of impeachment against him—with the support of Republicans—over the Watergate cover-up.

After nearly 8 years of Bush being in office, we have the issue of the case for going to war with Iraq, wherein we have “Curveball,” the Valerie Plame affair, the Niger yellowcake forgeries, the Downing Street Memos, cooked intelligence (a.k.a. “intelligence failures”), the non-existent Saddam/Al Qaeda/9-11 link, no WMD, and what seems to be a monthly event of new revelations of how the case for war in Iraq was made on consistently and blatantly false evidence. In a broader sense of the war on terror, the Bush administration has tacitly, if not explicitly approved interrogation methods that clearly constitute torture under any general consensus. Domestically, the Bush administration has politicized the Department of Justice through illegal, ideologically-based hiring/firing schemes, and gutted the very heart of the U.S. Constitution through executive signing statements, claims of executive privilege, and extra-legislative actions such as military commission trials, summary declarations of “enemy combatant” status, and suspension of habeas corpus.

In the case of Nixon, whose transgressions are trivial in comparison to the allegations of wrongdoing in the Bush administration, Congress acted to clear the air and get to the business of governing the country. Nixon’s claim that “when the President does it, that means it is not illegal,” turned out to be the death knell of his term in office and was thoroughly repudiated by Congress voting to approve Articles of Impeachment against him.

Yet today, the Democratic-controlled Congress refuses to bring a case for impeachment, and even refuses to hold some of the essential investigations necessary for impeachment. Where hearings have been held, Congress has witnessed incidents of perjury (AG Gonzales’ testimony, as a start), clearly illegal actions (acknowledgment of torture, refusing to acknowledge Congressional subpoenas for both people and documents), and tenuously legal activities (flatly contradictory testimony on a given topic—oh, where to start?) which undermine the intent and spirit of our constitutional government and the concepts of checks and balances.

Speaker-of-the-House, Nancy Pelosi continues to refuse to hold hearings directly on Articles of Impeachment on the grounds that such an effort would divide America. In doing so, Ms. Pelosi is doing a far graver harm to the social fabric of this country. By refusing to directly investigate or call account on the Bush administration, Ms. Pelosi is justifying and furthering the cynicism of “We the People” that our government is dishonest, ineffectual, powerless, subject to the whims of the president, and thereby affirming the president as a nearly autocratic ruler. Ms. Pelosi’s refusal to bring the activities of the Bush administration into the cold light of day reinforces the belief of “We the People” that we have no say in our government. And when Americans do not care about their government and feel they have no participation in their government, government can then do what it likes because those who our government is ostensibly intended to represent have more or less disengaged from the process.

The individual voice of “We the People” has ultimately been silenced. Elected officials only respond to large numbers of individuals. And in order to effect large, recognizable numbers, it is essential to organize under a single representative banner, such as a political action group, lobbyist, etc. Thus we are forced into factions. And when “We the People” become factionalized as members of this or that group (be it MoveOn.org, the Moral Majority, or the Federalist Society) we are no longer a constituent or a citizen—we are simply a faction member, a “them” or “they” who is no longer an individual worth considering. In allegations of wrong-doing, refutation of facts is not necessary so long as a substantive campaign of character assassination can be mounted. The prognistications of de Toqueville have become reality.

Ms. Pelosi, you are certainly aware that in some instances, the cure is worse than the disease. This is one of those cases. The cure (impeachment) for the presidency of Mr. Bush may be divisive for this country (at least in the short term), but the disease (the ultimate damage done by Bush’s legacy of Rovian politics), if left to run its course, will destroy utterly this country and our government.

The standard that is thus established by Congress’ inaction to the myriad allegations of wrong-doing in the Bush administration is that it’s more important to make the country feel good than it is to do the difficult job of governance. The standard is now one of “if it’s too hard/complicated … well, then we just can’t be bothered.” Thus, should we encounter a Nixon presidency today, Nixon would walk away without scrutiny or fear of rebuke—and we have Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to thank for gutting the power of the legislative branch.