Was Trump’s performance in Helsinki ‘treasonous?’

‘Treasonous’

I’ve long been an admirer of the work of Edwin M. Yoder Jr., even when I disagree with his conclusions – as in his defense of the monuments to the Confederacy. But “Let’s stay within reason when it comes to alleging treason” (July 21) about the word treason was, it seems to me, off the point.

Yoder objects that John Brennan described President Trump’s fawning submission to Putin in Helsinki as “nothing short of treasonous,” citing the very narrow definition of treason in the Constitution. Anyone with a knowledge of British history understands why the Founders did not want that crime to be defined easily by the government, perhaps in the heat of a crisis. Trump is in no danger of being tried and convicted of actual treason: the bar is too high.

But treason has a wider meaning: betrayal of the interests of one’s country. Brennan was noting Trump’s consistent and blatant subversion of our country’s interests to those of Russia. He was on solid ground to call it treasonous. It’s unlikely that Trump cares much about Russia’s national interests; he really cares only about his own personal interests. Somehow he sees those as requiring him to embrace Putin, imperiling the interests of the U.S. and its allies. That’s treasonous.

Past lessons

Most North Carolinians don’t realize that Republicans in the General Assembly are trying to force voter suppression and disenfranchisement into the state Constitution this fall. This November, voters will find on their ballots a proposed constitutional amendment that requires everyone to present a photo ID to vote.

That may sound like a reasonable idea; some say that everyone has a photo ID and that this will protect against voter fraud. But many eligible voters don’t have a photo ID, and voter fraud is in fact a mythical issue. This solution in search of a problem will disproportionately impact poor, elderly and rural voters, some of whom weren’t born in a hospital during the Jim Crow era and lack birth certificates.

North Carolina citizens who were denied their rights in a previous shameful episode in our history could now lose them again in a new and even more shameful one. It is more shameful because we should have learned lessons from our past.

Hopefully voters this fall will hold those lessons in their hearts, turn out to the polls in large numbers and defeat this unjust, deceptive and undemocratic attempt to deny our citizens their hard-won right to vote.

‘Obscurity’

Regarding “Session called to write amendment summaries” (July 24): In recent years there has been a proliferation of closed meetings at the state, county and township levels – not to speak of the federal level. Citizens are being excluded from the decision process while still they are footing the bill for decisions made by elected officers. Past transparency is being quickly replaced by obscurity.

Officials are elected to reflect the wishes of the citizens, and in a great majority of cases the wishes of a privileged minority are being forced upon the majority. We the majority are also the largest segment of the tax coffer contributors. Are we being held for ransom by influenced officials? Is it “just pay your taxes and keep your mouth shut – we know best how to spend it?”

Let’s make officials accountable for their decisions in open forum. Voters have the right to select politicians who will represent them fairly for the taxes they pay. Remember that we are a Republic where voters periodically select officials to discharge their wishes.

We hired our representatives to paint the house of democracy, and if we don’t like the shade of paint we can ask them to repaint it or get a new contractor to do it.

What reason?

Yesterday, the Wake County Commissioners voted on a change to the County Unified Development Ordinance to accommodate the General Assembly’s recent decision to stop state oversight and inspection of dams between 15 and 25 feet in height.

There may have been a reason for that law, but it wasn’t made clear to us. It’s an example of the increasing number of responsibilities for government being transferred from the state to the county. And this one came without any dam funding.

This story was originally published July 26, 2018 at 11:35 AM.