Article III Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution limits the definition of treason to those acts that "consist only in levying war against [the United States ] or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid or Comfort." However, in the modern world of well-funded and powerful non-state actors, the face of war has changed. As we have learned at such great cost the last few years, our enemies need not be foreign governments.
They are just as likely to be transnational or domestic agents who seek to pervert this nation's democratic processes for their own ends. In the most basic sense of the word, these agents wage war on our country, though their weapons and tactics are more refined than the enemies of old. Islamist terrorism is the most stunning and public form of this new war, but it is conducted on many fronts and without regard for race or creed.
In light of this new reality, the Abramoff scandal – a matter that to our collective shame has been fading from public attention – bears implications that go far beyond the bribe taking and corruption of a few dozen Congressmen. The scandal is another piece of evidence demonstrating that our political system is penetrable by moneyed and motivated interests that would usurp the formidable powers of our state.
The powers to tax, confiscate, imprison, appropriate and put to death are so dangerous in their misapplication that our forefathers erected an intricate institutional structure intended to tightly constrain the behavior of government officials and safeguard against abuse.
And yet, for all the "checks and balances," all the oversight, all the required disclosures, the ultimate and only safeguard against corruption is a solemn oath taken before God and country. It is the sacred honor of our legislators and leaders which defends our state from its enemies.
When this honor is compromised, when the oath of office is broken for the benefit of some special interest or other, an official has committed the most heinous crime our country recognizes. It is the only offense thought important enough for inclusion in our founding document, and it is punishable by imprisonment and even death.
The acts of these officials damage our society more than cold-blooded murder, a crime for which we execute hundreds each year. These official traitors hide behind their offices while causing and permitting the machinery of the state to grind countless innocents to dust. The violation of the public trust is more perverse than any rape because, far from a momentary act of weakness, it is a continued, conscious, and calculating disregard for the rights of all citizens.
People, where is your outrage? Are your legislators above the laws they create for you?
When these criminal parasites feed on the guts of a democracy that millions have died to protect, will you leave them with slaps on the wrist?
The power that state officials exercise requires them to be spotless in their honor, steadfast in their commitment to good government. They must be held to a higher standard.
This means that they must be tried and convicted for the crimes they commit. When they violate their oaths, when they violate our trust, when they are guilty of treason, they must be publicly and swiftly punished.
Proponents of the death penalty speak of its deterrent effect for violent crime, a claim that is difficult to verify and complicated by the fact that the truly brutal criminal seems to bypass the moral and rational faculties required to respond to such disincentives.
The Congressman or bureaucrat has a much more refined sense of self-preservation and, one would hope, a more rational mind than the violent criminal. For these leaders, the knowledge that corruption is equivalent with treason and that they will be executed if they are caught might actually accomplish the deterrent function that is intended by the death penalty.
Perhaps this measure appears extreme, but the honor system has not been working particularly well of late (in case you hadn't noticed).
This much is certain: we must put our own house in order before we can continue telling other states how to manage their affairs. These politicians of ours leave us with no choice.
