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Dear Progressive Reader,
Today marks the forty-fifth anniversary of the House Judiciary Committee’s passage of the first of three articles for the impeachment of then-President Richard Nixon for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. On Friday, we posted an article ([link removed][UNIQID]) on our website commemorating this anniversary and the role of The Progressive in pushing for Congressional action. “The Progressive was a leading voice in the call to impeach Nixon and, in December 1973, even issued ([link removed][UNIQID]) a ten-point ‘Bill of Impeachment’ to help spur the process,” the article noted. “[T]he crisis that grips America today is of another, higher magnitude,” wrote the editorial staff in a “Call to Action” in that issue.
The Progressive, then, as now, has called on our elected representatives in Congress to perform their Constitutionally mandated duty. As George Mason stated ([link removed][UNIQID]) during the Federal Convention of 1787 to draft the Constitution: “[Members of Congress] are not only legislators but they possess inquisitorial powers. They must meet frequently to inspect the conduct of the public offices.” In 1973, the magazine’s editors wrote, “[O]nly by exerting immense and unremitting pressure can we convince the Congress that it must discharge its constitutional responsibility.”
Within an hour of our posting the article, no doubt a coincidence, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was answering reporters’ questions on whether she was dragging her feet on the consideration of the impeachment of President Trump. "We will proceed when we have what we need to proceed. Not one day sooner,” she said ([link removed][UNIQID]) . But later on Friday afternoon, twelve Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee held a press conference to “announce their next steps in their oversight agenda.”
“From my personal standpoint, I would say we’re in an impeachment investigation,” said ([link removed][UNIQID]) Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin (who was a featured guest speaker at The Progressive’s event in Washington, D.C. last May). California Representative Eric Swalwell (who was, until he dropped out on July 8, one of more than two dozen Democrats seeking the Presidential nomination in 2020) concurred, saying, “This is an impeachment investigation.” Well, just as we wrote ([link removed][UNIQID]) in The Progressive in June of 1973, “The hour is late, the danger is clear and present, and the remedy is at hand. It is time to get on with it.”
This week we also noted the passing of three former contributors to The Progressive. Counter-culture icon Paul Krassner was remembered ([link removed][UNIQID]) in a piece by Bill Lueders who hosted him in Milwaukee in 1982. Krassner most recently had reflected ([link removed][UNIQID]) on the 1968 Democratic National Convention on our website. Ian Murphy, former editor at The Beast in Buffalo, New York, had been a frequent contributor ([link removed][UNIQID]) to the magazine. He was remembered ([link removed][UNIQID]) by Mrill Ingrim, who had just been working with him on his next planned feature for our website. And finally, workers’ rights activist Ai-Jen Poo remembers ([link removed][UNIQID]) Héctor Figueroa, a labor leader whose powerful op-eds appeared on our
website ([link removed][UNIQID]) . We are saddened at the loss of all three of these voices, and proud to have hosted their writing.
Keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
P.S. – Your donations are more important than ever to sustain this progressive voice. The Progressive is a non-profit, allowing us to be unfettered by corporate interests. One way to support our work is to become a sustainer ([link removed][UNIQID]) with a monthly donation of $5 or more. These small, regular amounts make a big difference in our ability to survive and thrive. Thank you.
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