I wholeheartedly support Sen. Mike Lee’s proposed Cartel Marque and Reprisal Authorization Act. This innovative legislation would empower the president to commission privateers — private armed citizens — to seize property and persons belonging to cartels or conspirators responsible for “acts of aggression” against the United States. It’s an elegant solution: authorize bonded civilians to conduct armed seizures on foreign soil for profit.
The genius lies in its expansive scope. These privateers wouldn’t be confined to maritime operations. They’d be authorized to operate on land as well, entering sovereign nations to seize assets — and the people controlling them. A centuries-old naval practice becomes a general enforcement mechanism, applicable wherever we determine aggression exists.
Of course, once this precedent is established, other nations will naturally adopt the same framework. When Pacific island nations watch American plastic waste bury their shores — over one million metric tons of U.S.-generated plastic polluting environments beyond our borders — they’ll simply designate this environmental devastation as an act of aggression against their survival. Licensed privateers will move to seize ExxonMobil and Dow Chemical facilities. Not as retaliation, mind you, but as legitimate compensation for documented harm.
Mexico will follow suit. With 70% of firearms recovered at Mexican crime scenes traced to the United States, and over 200,000 Mexican citizens killed in cartel violence fueled by American weapons, Mexico will designate gun trafficking as an act of aggression against its citizenry. Privateers will be commissioned to seize the manufacturing assets of Smith & Wesson, Sturm Ruger, and other firearms companies. They’ll be authorized to employ “all means reasonably necessary” — the exact language Sen. Lee’s bill uses.
Countries facing climate catastrophe will recognize fossil fuel extraction as an act of aggression against their very existence. Armed contractors will target Chevron and ConocoPhillips facilities. Nations experiencing water crises will identify Nestlé’s aquifer depletion as an act of aggression against public health and authorize asset seizures accordingly.
The beauty of the system is its simplicity. Each nation defines what constitutes an “act of aggression” by its own standards. Each designates its own targets. Each commissions its own profit-motivated privateers. A security bond, a presidential determination, and enforcement proceeds — no international courts, no diplomatic channels, no messy accountability when privateers inevitably overstep.
If the act passes, Sen. Lee will have truly revolutionized international relations. Every country would have legal justification to send armed mercenaries into every other country to seize whatever they want from whomever they deem responsible for whatever harm they’ve defined as aggression. On land or sea. Corporations or individuals. All perfectly constitutional.
I’m certain this will usher in an unprecedented era of global stability and mutual respect.
What could possibly go wrong?
Gary L. Leavitt, Sandy
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