REPUBLICAN DERELICTION OF DUTY IN THE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL

REPUBLICAN DERELICTION OF DUTY IN THE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

It is disconcerting to conservatives that the Republican Party talks a good game but never seems to deliver. Their track record is becoming impossible to ignore. America in 2010 and 2014 gave Republicans a mandate to stifle President Obama’s transformation of our country into a socialist state. The obscene $20 trillion debt, deceptive and malfunctioning Obamacare, the opening up of the borders to hoards of illegals, our pathetically conflicted, weak, destructive “leading from behind” foreign policy that punishes our allies while rewarding our enemies and deconstructing our constitutional safeguards was supposed to be reversed.

The Republicans were given voter approval to reverse them but the Republican establishment refused to use their political capital. They put their tails between their legs and folded. The excuses they employed ranged from blaming others to not wanting to appear oppositional or racist. This was nauseating. They never risked taking a stand that might jeopardize their political positions. They displayed contempt of the voters even after the people had spoken loud and clear.

Possibly the most incomprehensible and bewildering behavior of the Republican establishment was its response to President Obama’s Iran Nuclear Agreement. Both the Democrats and Republicans acknowledged that Iran’s obtaining nuclear capabilities would radically change the Middle Eastern nations’ power position and ignite a nuclear arms race. Past adversaries such as Israel and Saudi Arabia united to pressure the US to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Powerful Democrats and Republicans joined together to prevent this nuclear deal from happening.

This deal between the US and Iran had so many dangerous implications that it should have risen to the level of an official and highly stipulated treaty to increase the safeguards to prevent their reneging on its provisions. Instead, the Republican complicity allowed the executive branch to bypass congressional approval of a treaty that would have required a 2/3 vote for approval. It would have doomed the treaty.

The excuse for relinquishing of the senate’s power was that other presidents, including G.W. Bush, had made more agreements with other nations. However, none of them was remotely at the level of world importance. The Corker Bill was a scam to give political cover to the Republicans to not exercise their responsibility as accountable representatives of the people. The Corker Bill accepted the claim that this was an agreement not a treaty. Saying it is a agreement undermines the constitutional power of the senate by putting the onus on Senate to find 67 votes to block this agreement along with 2/3 of the House of Representatives. The Corker Bill turned on its head the intent of the founding fathers by making it virtually impossible to ratify an ill-advised treaty. It reversed the constitutional process of needing to obtain 2/3 of the senate to pass a treaty to requiring 2/3 of both the house and the senate to overturn a presidential veto of the Iran Nuclear Agreement. The Corker Bill made it almost impossible to stop the Iran Nuclear Agreement.

It was almost a year after the Iran Nuclear Deal became official that the startling information came out that there was a bone given to the Republicans. The one hundred fifty billion dollar release of frozen Iranian assets was partially going to be used to buy 100 commercial airliners from Boeing. The Boeing Company is a huge contributor to the Republican Party. The pieces of this puzzling behavior of the Republican establishment fell into place as soon as one was able to follow the money.

The Iranian Nuclear Deal is a game changer. It will not make us safer but rather more vulnerable to Iran’s hostile tactics by emboldening Iran to engage in dangerous actions such as intimidating our aircraft carriers with rocket fire, boarding our ships, detaining and humiliating our troops while equipping their terrorist allies with advanced weaponry including ballistic missiles. It lifts the Khamenei regime into one of, if not the most significant threat to the United States. Iran leadership continues to proclaim “Death to America” and calls the US “The Great Satan.”

The Republican establishment could easily have killed this one-sided agreement of these two powers by doing what they said they were going to do. They needed to stick to their guns by insisting this required a ratified treaty. Instead their party interest overruled the interest of the American people. The Republican leadership has continued to behave disgracefully as one part of our three branch Constitutional Republic. 

Congressional power is specifically outlined in the constitution giving congress the responsibility to ratify international treaties and not be a bystander in United States foreign interests. Enhancing the coffers of a major contributor to the Republicans may insure the party’s financial future but it abdicates its sacred duty to protect the safety of its citizens.

The Kabuki Dance the Republican establishment is trying to hide behind is a thin veil that is no longer disguising the moral vacuum and spiritual decay of the Republican Party. It is  advancing the destruction of our nation.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.