Democrat Julian Beaudoin and independent Brian Bengs have declared their candidacies for United States Senate. Democrat Scott Schlagel filed Federal Election Commission paperwork to run for U.S. House, but he doesn’t appear to have said or done anything online about running since.
On his campaign website, Bengs offers two pages of interesting value statements—What I Believe and What I Stand For—but no specific policy positions or legislative agenda. Beaudoin offers a shorter About page that mentions “safeguarding Medicaid and Medicare, education, and veterans, and building an economy where every South Dakotan—urban, rural, or reservation residents—can thrive”, but again, no specifics on what Congressional actions he would propose or vote for.
Amidst the rise of the American Reich, patriots seeking seats in the U.S House or Senate should campaign on one issue: ousting the fascist regime of Donald Trump and restoring the Constitution and the rule of law. To that end, Bengs, Beaudoin, and everyone else running to flip a seat in Congress from fascist to free should lead every campaign speech with one clear promise:
- Candidate for U.S. House: On Day One, I will vote to impeach Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.
- Candidate for U.S. Senate: As soon as the House delivers articles of impeachment, I will vote to convict and remove from office Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.
The grounds for impeachment are myriad: mobilizing the military against civilians; kidnapping and deporting American citizens, usurping Congressional powers, defying courts, using the Presidency for personal profit…. Liberty-loving candidates can run on any of those grounds; they should use their platform to educate voters about all of them, about all of the ways in which the Republican Party has led America to dictatorship and decline, and about how this midterm election must be all about restoring a federal government that plays by the rules and serves the people.
In campaigning on impeachment, candidates should make clear that we can restore a Constitutional government only by a double-barreled impeachment. we cannot remove Donald Trump but leave in place an underqualified toady who will only veto Congress’s necessary and urgent repair work and roll over even harder for Putin. Removing Trump and Vance will advance the Speaker of the House to the Presidency, and the Speaker of a House willing to impeach Trump will be a real reformer, not weird theocrat Mike Johnson.
If candidates for Congress can’t rally Americans to save their democracy via impeachment, they won’t have a chance of turning any of their values into helpful policy. If we don’t remove Trump and Vance, America will continue its descent into lawless chaos.