I have for many years been proud to boast of my representative in Congress: the progressive causes he championed, his liberal voting record, his commitment to legislation that would improve the lives of his constituents. I was therefore shocked and appalled when I and others met with Jerrold Nadler to discuss the prospects for impeachment of Dick Cheney, and my liberal champion insisted that impeachment had no support in Congress, that those in Congress who did support it were on the fringes, and that he had a better idea than impeachment. No support? A better idea?

Impeachment is the most important check against abuse of executive power that our Constitution grants to Congress; furthermore, our representatives in the House are our direct representatives, bound by their oath of office to protect the Constitution and advocate for their constituents. When my congressman tells me that he will not co-sponsor an impeachment resolution against a reckless and criminal vice president, I submit to you that he has broken faith with the people he is meant to serve, and violated his sworn oath to the Constitution. He has chosen to adhere to the wishes of his party leaders in the name of some short-sighted political“wisdom.”

I will never break an oath to protect the Constitution, no matter the perceived cost to a political agenda. The cost to our country, our republic, and to each individual citizen is too great to bear. We are citizens of the United States of America. We deserve better.