The Outstater

June 30, 2026

Not a Traitor, Exactly

DEMOCRATIC ‘REPRESENTATION’ has lost any meaning. This year, 90 percent of representatives to the U.S. House will be determined before any election, that is, gerrymandering will allow our “representatives” to choose who they “represent.”

Mulling that upside-down state of affairs, the question occurs: Can we even define a term critical to defining who we are? Can anybody be called a  “traitor” anymore? I have a test case.

The positions and statements of 7th District U.S. Rep. Andre Carson are not traitorous, at least in a legal sense. That is so even if put into place they would mean the end of the United States as a nation. We would exist only as a cultural/economic zone open to exploitation and plunder by opposing nations that had the good sense to maintain their identity.

Specifically, Carson says that anyone who manages to set foot on U.S. soil has made a “home” here, has a right to stay and enjoy the benefits of citizenship indefinitely. Carson will only say that U.S. borders should be “safe,” whatever he means by that.

Look, no nation can survive that, no more than one could survive the amassing of a hostile and overwhelming armed invasion.

But merely advocating actions that would destroy the U.S. does not prove the case. The legal definition of treason, the only crime specifically defined in the Constitution, is narrow so that it cannot be used as a political weapon. 

To convict, it would have to be proven that there was intent to betray the U.S. (adherence) plus concrete acts that provide material help to a specific enemy. Again, Carson’s sympathies, speeches or actions that merely mean the destruction of the U.S. without intent to aid an enemy do not qualify.

It is unclear why a hypothetical action (legislation) initiated by a Muslim officeholder that would directly favor one or another of the Islamic nations that has engaged in hostility against America does not qualify, but I am told they would not.

Still, let’s step back to consider what this means. To be technically innocent of treason is a mighty low bar for holding high office. That Andre Carson “represents” Indiana, with tacit gerrymandered support from the Republican leadership, is to our great shame. History will not be kind to us. — tcl

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