Do not Call this Treason, and do not Impeach the President

   I never did find why I thought the Constitution warned against being too quick to call someone out for treason -- or have I?

   In the days leading up to the Capitol insurrection, I reflected on how it is wrong -- dangerous to democracy -- to run around accusing each other of treason. 

   And, now, here we are. I haven't heard the word "treason" yet used on Donald Trump, but perhaps that is just because I am not listening closely enough. Either way, he is being accused of more than I think we should saddle him with. And, it is not only the president, but others who are facing potential punishments that are unwise. There are calls for senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley to resign (or be expelled).

   Could we ask what Cruz and Hawley did wrong? They continued to lead a wave of discontent with the election results. They continued to suggest the election was a fraud. That is all. These are not things for which we should remove them from office.

   There is this danger in our times. We have been endangered by President Trump. But, also dangerous to freedom are these efforts to silence those who feel the election was a fraud. Now, I am not among those who think it was a fraud. Joe Biden won, fair and square. But, there is danger in the way we are fighting the deceit being practiced by Trump's lawyers and leaders.

   When lies are silenced by persuasion, that is the just way of silencing them. But when they are silenced by edict, you only strengthen them. Truth comes not by edict, but only through earnest discussion. If the fact that Biden won fairly is to carry the day, it must be done by pointing out the deception being practiced by Trump's people -- a deceit that has fooled perhaps 75 million people. And, though they are swallowed by deception, they honestly believe they are right.

   Government cannot dictate what is truth. Instagram, Cameo, Twitter, and Facebook cannot by edict proclaim the truth. Amazon, Apple and Google should not be shutting down Parlor. Our freedom of speech is in danger. 

   Did Trump incite an insurrection? Yes, depending on how you look at it. By stirring up the people to believe the election was unjust, a riot did result. But, I don't know if he ever directly suggested violence. "You will never take back our country with weakness," he said. That might have been about as provocative as he got. Rudy Guiliani was more provocative. "Let's have trial by combat," he said.

   You cannot just shut these voices down. Sometimes, there is a right to free speech even when it brings the danger of insurrection. We lose our freedom of speech and that is not to be counted as a small thing. And, so, I say, do not expel Cruz and Hawley from office. Do not call for State Attorney General Sean Reyes and others in Utah to resign. Do not impeach the president. 

   I think I've found it: "Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court."

   The founding fathers did not want to make it easy to convict someone of treason. They purposefully put restrictive limits on what it was. In the annuls of time, accusing someone of treason has been the hallmark of dictators. They throw in jail those who oppose them. This has been the very danger we have had with Trump. He would have marched off to prison everyone from Hillary Clinton to James Comey. Everyone who opposed him, by his way of thinking, belonged in jail. He fired every person who dared stand up to him. 

   Let us not be guilty of the same thing. Let us not endanger the freedom of our nation by being too quick in going after someone for their beliefs. We've 75 million Trump supporters, would we run all of them off Twitter, or off Facebook? Heaven forbid the freedom of speech that would be lost.