So Many Chamberlains, So Little Time

David Zucker has a great new video comparing James Baker to Chamberlain. James Baker is among the latest, but he’s hardly alone. Many people have made it a point to meet with our enemies - or at least adversaries - although they have no right to create foreign policy on their own or negotiate on behalf of the United States. Here are a few who took it upon themselves to deal with foreign governments: Bill Nelson (D), Chris Dodd (D), John Kerry (D), Arlen Spectre (RINO), Rockefeller (D), and let’s not forget Kennedy (D). We mustn’t forget Jesse Jackson (D) and Jimmy Carter (D) either. Now, that’s just people who have actually gone and talked with our enemies and/or adversaries. It doesn’t begin to include folks like Wesley Clark (D), who haven’t done it but certainly advocate it. There are far too many people who think there is something to be gained by negotiating with terrorists and terror supporters. People who think this is a fine sentiment:

We should seek by all means in our power to avoid war, by analysing possible causes, by trying to remove them, by discussion in a spirit of collaboration and good will. I cannot believe that such a programme would be rejected by the people of this country, even if it does mean the establishment of personal contact with the dictators. — Neville Chamberlain

Of course, Chamberlain was at least invested with the authority to make agreements on behalf of his country. He wasn’t just running off half-cocked in defiance of his nation’s foreign policy. He was an idiot, but it can be argued that he was loyal. Maybe it’s not too late to dust this off and use it:

The Logan Act
Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both. This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply himself, or his agent, to any foreign government, or the agents thereof, for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.

And what we need to remember, when confronted with these Chamberlains, is that -

The doctrine that war is always a greater evil seems to imply a materialist ethic, a belief that death and pain are the greatest evils. But I do not think they are. I think the suppression of a higher religion by a lower, or even a higher secular culture by a lower, a much greater evil. Nor am I greatly moved by the fact that many of the individuals we strike down in war are innocent. […] The question is whether war is the greatest evil in the world, so that any state of affairs which might result from submission is certainly preferable. And I do not see any really cogent arguments for that view. (C.S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory)

[Updated - Gateway Pundit notes that Jon Carry has arrived in Syria, and lists more history of Democrats meeting with the enemy: Watch Out Assad! John Kerry Is In Town & He's Not Playing!]

h/t to Hot Air for this video