There has long been a great deal of posturing by the Republican Party that they were the only true, absolute, lovers of America. Recently they have been augmented by a group that claims to love America even more, 'The Tea Party'. It would seem this latest act of possible treason has finally laid that claim low. Will the 'Treacherous 47' be impeached, arrested and charged with Treason, Sedition and Conspiracy to Commit? The incredible amount of decency President Obama has shown toward this, the most obstructionist and vitriolic Congress in recent memory, would lead us to believe not. There is little doubt their intent was seditious and very probably treasonous, however.
These are the forty-seven, some Tea Party, Republicans all:
Richard Shelby (Ala.)
Jeff Sessions (Ala.)
Dan Sullivan (Alaska)
John McCain (Ariz.)
John Boozman (Ark.)
Tom Cotton (Ark.)
Cory Gardner (Colo.)
Marco Rubio (Fla.)
Johnny Isakson (Ga.)
David Perdue (Ga.)
Mike Crapo (Idaho)
Jim Risch (Idaho)
Mark Kirk (Ill.)
Chuck Grassley (Iowa)
Joni Ernst (Iowa)
Pat Roberts (Kansas)
Jerry Moran (Kansas)
Mitch McConnell (Ky.)
Rand Paul (Ky.)
David Vitter (La.)
Bill Cassidy (La.)
Roger Wicker (Miss.)
Roy Blunt (Mo.)
Steve Daines (Mont.)
Deb Fischer (Neb.)
Ben Sasse (Neb.)
Dean Heller (Nev.)
Kelly Ayotte (N.H.)
Richard Burr (N.C.)
Thom Tillis (N.C.)
John Hoeven (N.D.)
Rob Portman (Ohio)
Jim Inhofe (Okla.)
James Lankford (Okla.)
Pat Toomey (Pa.)
Lindsey Graham (S.C.)
Tim Scott (S.C.)
John Thune (S.D.)
Mike Rounds (S.D.)
John Cornyn (Texas)
Ted Cruz (Texas)
Orin Hatch (Utah)
Mike Lee (Utah)
Shelley Moore Capito (W.V.)
Ron Johnson (Wis.)
Mike Enzi (Wyo.)
John Barrasso (Wyo.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
In sending an authorized letter letter to Iran, they have exceeded their mandate as described below:
'Through the Department of State and the Department of Defense, the president is responsible for the protection of Americans abroad and of foreign nationals in the United States. The president decides whether to recognize new nations and new governments, and negotiate treaties with other nations, which become binding on the United States when approved by two-thirds of the Senate.'
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
The Senate has approval powers but not the power to negotiate treaties. By sending a letter directly to Iran they inserted themselves without authority into the negotiations. There is no mistaking the intent of their 'warnings' about the president's remaining time in office as opposed to their terms and the Congressional approval required, as well as a subsequent president negating the treaty 'with a stroke of a pen'.
This has all the hallmarks of a direct attempt to sabotage a very complicated multi-country treaty designed, among other things, to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The damage of this letter is staggering. Not only could it have derailed the treaty, it sent a message to the world that no standing president has the power to conduct foreign policy with any nation without the threat of internal sabotage looming in the background. One of the functions of this treaty is to assure that nuclear weapons don't get into the hands of terrorists. In short, it appears they have openly and brazenly provided aid and comfort to the terrorist regimes of the world that would harm the United States of America. They have also put at risk thousands of Americans abroad both within the government and without by presenting a divided America to the world. How this will be exploited by those that mean to harm us is yet to be seen.
Now, does this seem like the action of a group that loves America? The answer should be a resounding and unmistakable, NO. This seems the action of an out of control ideological organization, blinded by hatred, entangled in partisan politics and so eager to lash out at the authority of a standing president, who they have chose to make the object of their anger, that no other consideration including the best interests of our country takes priority.
The unbridled hypocrisy of these mostly hawkish ideologues is personified in freshman Senator, Tom Cotton (Ark.), who with one hand pens a letter to derail an international treaty and extends the other one the next day to defense contractors. Hmm, wonder what they talked about???
https://firstlook.org/...
A result of this colossally short sighted action is the Tea Party and Republicans have lost the moral 'I love America' high ground. Another result along with the many unforeseen consequences is, from here forward within our internal dialogue of what is best for America, whenever mostly misunderstood labels are slung, as pejorative, from the ideologues who identify themselves with the two aforementioned organizations they can be retorted simply with one word... 'Traitor'.
Link to the 'We the People' Petition to file charges against the 'Treacherous 47':
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/...