There is this 'small' treaty that has rattled around for decades and is finally back on the front burner. It is the Law of the Sea Treaty, or 'LOST'.
This treaty has been passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by a vote of 17-4. I had written to Sen. Feingold, a member of this committee, asking that he NOT vote in favor of LOST. He voted in favor of LOST, but thanked me for expressing my views (which made me feel all warm and fuzzy, of course).
I wrote to Sen. Kohl asking that he not vote for LOST. He wrote back with his typical letter stating that he would take my position into account before voting. I suspect we all know which way his vote will go. Can we spell Democrat m-a-j-o-r-i-t-y?
Why did the title ask "Will We Feel LOST? Just what is LOST?
LOST is a treaty that would establish the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a U.N. agency to be headquartered in Jamaica which would then have ownership over all deep-sea beds forever. That is a long time :), especially for a U.N affiliate!
If 67 members of our U.S. Senate vote to approve this treaty, it will have been ratified. America would surrender control of the free oceans and seas to the ISA and it would have sole power to issue permits for fishing, drilling and mining the deep seabed beyond territorial boundaries.
The ISA would be able to approve or disapprove any and all 'requests' made. Those it approved would be charged 'fees'.
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The ISA would control nearly 41% of the world's surface area (deep sea and ocean beds).
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The ISA would have the power to impose international taxes.
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The ISA would have the power to impose production quotas for deep-sea mining, oil production and other future uses.
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The ISA would have the power to regulate ocean research and exploration.
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The ISA would have the power to create a multinational court system to render and enforce judgments.
Okay, that's enough of the 'good news'. Now for the really tough stuff. The ISA would be organized exactly like the U.N. General Assembly: one nation; one vote. The United States would have no veto. Venezuela (Hugo Chavez, Dictator) would have as much authority over the oceans and seas as would the United States.
Who among us believes that the U.N. will not subsume control over our military's ability to use waters all over the earth's surface, and beneath the earth's surface. We would lose our ability to protect our interests, which is exactly what the U.N. has been about for many years. Unfortunately, there are those who seem unable to project ahead far enough to see the tremendous threats to each and everyone of us if LOST is ratified. Once the U.N. has control of the water surface, how does it differ that the air belongs under U.N. ownership for the benefit of all mankind.
We Americans seem to have this perpetual guilt complex over our success as a democracy. We seem to need to find ways to undermine our own welfare. Too many of our politicians and other 'deep thinking' people seemingly cannot tolerate the idea that we have more than others, that we live better than others, that we have a great military where others don't, and on and on. They don't think that is right. They tell us we pollute more, but that isn't true. They tell us we aren't a caring people, but that isn't true. They tell us we have nothing to fear from the U.N., but that isn't true either.
