Treason in the United States

Without torturing the definition, treason is "the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance," and to which one has sworn an oath to protect and defend. To prove treason, our Constitution requires "testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act." The penalty for treason against the U.S. is death or not less than 5 years in prison with a minimum fine of $10,000.

 The current problem of treasonous attacks on the U.S. from internal actors is that too few traitors have been held accountable for their actions in the past. 

• During the Civil War, William Mumford was executed for treason in 1862 for raising a Confederate flag after tearing down an American flag in New Orleans. 
• Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States, and his generals were clearly traitors. After the war, Davis was locked up for only 2 years. There was no accountability for his generals. All were given amnesty by President Andrew Johnson and allowed to return to political office. 
• During World War II, Herbert Burgman was convicted of treason in 1949 for spreading Nazi propaganda. He was sentenced to 6 to 20 years in prison where he died in 1953.

There were millions of witnesses to the January 6, 2021 insurrection lead by Trump -- certainly more than two. Millions were and still are witness to members of Congress who refused to uphold their oaths of office and allowed Trump to eventually again become President -- regardless of his convictions for frauds, felonies, and sexual predation.

 

We are witness to treasonous crimes that go unpunished because of our glacial ineffective legal system, and for our inability to hold traitors accountable. As in the past, present and future traitors act with impunity. They have no reason to act otherwise.

John L. Ferri