The 47 Goons

Political news in recent days has been dominated by the 47 Republican Senators who sent an open letter to leaders of Iran threatening to not uphold any deal on a nuclear agreement made between Iran and the Republican’s enemy in chief President Obama.  The letter was patronizing and explained to Iran’s leaders how our system of government works (or rather doesn’t work) as if Iran just signed up for Political Science 101 at a local community college. The letter says, “Thus, we are writing to bring to your attention features of our Constitution-the power to make binding international agreements and the different character of federal offices-which you should seriously consider as negotiations progress.”  It goes on to stress the importance of the role of Congress in ratifying international agreements that the president negotiates.    The letter continues with, “We will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear weapons that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khomenei.” The junior United States Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas who was elected in 2014, is the new ultra right wing face who is taking the majority of the blame for the subversive letter because he has led the charge.  What always seems strange about guys like Tom Cotton is how impressive they are on paper yet they are incredibly irrational statesmen.  Cotton went to Harvard University, graduated from Harvard Law School, and was a captain in the United States Army.  He meets the classic prerequisites of a future leader but instead comes off as a psychotic partisan.  If you want further proof of smart guys doing dumb things look at Cotton’s buddy and fellow signer to the letter Ted Cruz.  Cruz went to Princeton and also graduated from Harvard Law School.  The Senators are being accused by some as being traitors and violating the Logan Act of 1799 (cnn.com).  It specifically forbids U.S. citizens-acting without official U.S. authority-from influencing “disputes or controversies” involving the U.S. and a foreign government (cnn.com).  There are debates going back and forth between pundits and scholars with various opinions stating if they violated this act or not.  However, the consensus is that nothing will come of it besides political damage for the Republican Senators.  This is heavily influenced by the fact that the only indictment under the Logan Act took place in 1803 (cnn.com) In 2007, the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D) traveled to Syria to meet with the despicable Syrian dictator President Bashar al-Assad and she was accused of violating the Logan Act because this contrasted with the Bush administration’s policy (cnn.com)  I am of the opinion that neither the 47 Senators or Nancy Pelosi committed treasonous acts.  The political ramifications for the Senators should be significant but we live in a perpetual news cycle of political amnesia.  The Republicans haven’t yet thrown away the 2016 presidential election.