Posted by
Steve on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 2:12:12 PM
The Law of the Sea Treaty has been considered by the Senate since the days of Ronald Reagan. From that day to now, the treaty has not been able to muster a majority vote to become law. That streak is in danger of ending in this Congress with this Senate lead by Dingy Harry Reid.
The Law of the Sea Treaty or LOST is a treaty to control the use of the oceans of the world. It establishes rules on how the oceans may be used. It also establishes the ability of the UN to tax any company or country that uses any resource from the sea. It also controls the land that touches the sea. That is bad enough, but it gets worse. When a dispute arises the two countries each pick a delegate to the negotiating table. The two delegates then pick a third party. That committee will have full authority over the dispute and can do almost anything to any country that is in violation. It is a litigator’s dream and any country’s nightmare.
Since Ronald Reagan, almost all Republicans have voted no on the treaty. A few liberal Republicans have voted for it from time to time. The ones most likely are the two from Maine and Arlen Specter from Pennsylvania. Democrats almost universally like the treaty. They like the treaty because it establishes the United Nations as the body above the United States in any dispute. This would give them cover when they do not act in response to any aggression. Since the Democrats control this Senate, the majority will most likely vote for the LOST Treaty. It needs 60 votes for passage. I am not sure if they have the 60 votes. I know they do not have it without Republicans voting for it.
The worst thing the treaty would do to us is control our Navy. If we had a dispute overseas, the Navy could not send a warship to help control the situation. The treaty forbids any country from using the sea in a warlike fashion. Of course it would only apply to the United States. Any other country could get away with using the sea for war. We would be hamstrung by public opinion and not be able to respond.
The second worst thing the treaty would do is give the UN taxing authority within the United States. That would enable the UN to start transferring money from the US to third world countries. We would have astronomically high taxes and have to grin and bear it. It would destroy the United States economy. There is no way we could allow the UN to institute taxes within the United States, even if the company were operating in coastal waters.
I am thankful that my state has two Republican Senators, Kyl and McCain. Kyl is against the LOST treaty. McCain would have to vote against the treaty if he has any chance of being nominated as President. If McCain gets defeated in the primaries, who knows what his opinion will be in the LOST treaty. I would think that the restrictions on the US Navy would be enough to keep a former Navy officer in line against the treaty. That would be the expected thing to do. McCain does not always do the expected thing. He likes to play the part of the maverick. If he does on this issue, he could help destroy the country he helped defend while in the Navy. The Democrats do not care about the country. They just want to extract power from the Republicans and to make Republicans look bad.