[extropy-chat] Moveon.org

[Adrian Tymes]

--- Mike Lorrey <mlorrey at yahoo.com> wrote:
> testified
> before congress that he and everyone else there had
> committed war
> crimes, and was a participant in a VVAW meeting (as
> a member of the
> executive committee) plebiscite in late 1971 to vote
> on a plan to
> assassinate pro-war US Senators. 
> 
> This vote alone, even if he voted against the plan,
> was a very severe
> violation of both the 14th amendment prohibition
> against rebels holding
> office, and the Neutrality Act of 1940, which strips
> US citizenship of
> anyone who participated in such events. Legally, he
> is therefore an
> illegitimate US Senator and Presidential candidate.

Legally, unless he aided and abetted actual action to
do the assassination - merely voting for it (and
especially voting against it) does not count - he
committed no crime.

Whether or not this should be the case is another
story.  But it's been well established that intent
alone is insufficient.  (Granted, there have been
prosecutions based on the most minimal of deeds.  If
you could find some deed to charge him on, you might
have a case.  What you have cited here is not actually
illegal behavior.