The act of treason is defined as the betrayal of a trust – treachery, the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign’s family.
Article III, Section 3 of the United States Constitution states: (1) Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. And, (2) The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.
I also found an article at www.constitution.org titled: Treason Cases and Doctrine, 1945-1970. Among other things, it offered a summary of several Supreme Court cases with the conclusion that “…In contrast, the court implied, treason requires a specific intent, and a specific intent both to aid the enemy and to injure the United States.”
Well, there you have it, the dysfunctional behavior we see today which is resulting from the rigid ideologues in Congress, while objectionable and frustrating, probably doesn’t rise to the level of treason due to a lack of intent.
The ideologues certainly intend to change the way business is done in Washington, but they are not trying to overthrow the government. The most appropriate tool for correcting the dysfunction continues to be the ballot box. “We the People” created the problem when we cast our ballots during the last election and “We the People” will have the ability to fix the problem during our next Congressional election.
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