Muscatine

t's a question being asked today.

Mostly because nothing gets by the Internet. The World Wide Web is populated with amateur and professional researchers, and any number of them have found and pointed out the Logan Act, which reads:

"Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both."

Of course, President Obama would never pressure the Justice Department to pursue charges. And he would stop them if they tried, knowing that such a thing would be even more damaging to the national interest than the silly letter itself.

But could the senators be prosecuted?

It certainly seems like the 47 who signed the letter violated the spirit of the law.

In other words, they should have known better.

They should have been better, and acted in a manner that was actually senatorial.

I'd guess that if charges were to be brought against them the multimillionaires in the Senate could pay for more than enough legal muscle to beat the rap.

But is that the best we can expect of U.S. Senators? That they figure it's okay to do something they know isn't right because they also know they can get away with it?

And if you happen to be someone who supports the senators and the letter they wrote just pause for a second... and step back one administration.

What if senate Democrats had sent such a letter to Iraq's Prime Minister Maliki when President Bush was negotiating a security agreement with that country?

Would you have been okay with that?

Or would you, maybe, have pressed for prosecution under the Logan Act?

I continue to respond to a fool:   etc., etc., etc.

Some perspective:

• In 1979, Senator Robert Byrd traveled to the Soviet Union during the SALT II talks to “personally explain the requirements of our Constitution” to Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev. Byrd later wrote: “In Leningrad, I explained that I had come to the Soviet Union neither to praise nor condemn the treaty but to create a better understanding of the treaty in the Senate and to explain to the Soviets the Senate’s constitutional role in treatymaking.”

   

• In the early 1980s, Senator Ted Kennedy secretly approached leaders of the Soviet Union with a proposal: I’ll help you with Ronald Reagan’s defense buildup if you help me defeat him in the 1984 presidential election. Former senator John Tunney conveyed the offer on Kennedy’s behalf.

   

• In April 1985, as the Reagan administration sought to limit Soviet influence in Central America, Senator John Kerry traveled to Nicaragua, met with Communist strongman Daniel Ortega, and accused the Reagan administration of supporting “terrorism” against the government there. Said Kerry, “Senator Harkin and I are going to Nicaragua as Vietnam-era veterans who are alarmed that the Reagan administration is repeating the mistakes we made in Vietnam.” Kerry’s trip followed a letter from a group of House Democrats led by majority leader Jim Wright to Ortega. The “Dear Comandante” letter declared: “We regret the fact that better relations do not exist between the United States and your country. We have been, and remain, opposed to U.S. support for military action directed against the people or government of Nicaragua. We want to commend you and your government for taking steps to open up the political process in your country.”

   

• In 1990, former President Jimmy Carter secretly wrote to the leaders of the U.N. Security Council nations urging them to oppose a resolution offered by his own country. The existence of the letter was revealed when one of its recipients shared a copy with the White House. President George H. W. Bush was “furious” at the “deliberate attempt to undermine” his foreign policy, according to his national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft.

   

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