The relative indifference to treason is a symptom of our intelligentsia’s weakening devotion to the nation state. "In the cosmopolitan atmosphere of globalism," Guelzo writes, "the notion of treason has acquired an antique feel." This is a weakening indeed. As Guelzo notes, for all its faults, the nation-state works (imperfectly) as a stay against ethnic, dynastic, and religious mischief of the kind that put Europe in a state of perpetual warfare until the 18th century. "To wave away treason as a crime is to put in jeopardy many of the benefits the nation-state has conferred in the last three centuries."
Monday, October 25, 2021
The case of Robert E. Lee …
… A Matter of Treason. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
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"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."
ReplyDeleteWithout an explicit declaration of war, or an open war without declaration, the term treason starts to slide from the legal to the rhetorical.