Congress: Take Back Your Rightful Power!
All wars not authorized by Congress are illegal. The legislative branch needs to assert itself
The Congress shall have the power … To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water; To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years; To provide and maintain a navy;To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces; To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress …
Our Constitution: Article I, Section 8
Donald Trump’s war against Iran is illegal, and so were all the other nasty little wars various presidents have started since we lost in Vietnam. The Constitution is vague on some things, but not that, and the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly acknowledged that, indeed, only Congress can declare war.
So why was it legal for Donald Trump to launch a undeclared war on Iran, beginning with a sneak attack that was very much like what the Japanese did to us at Pearl Harbor? It wasn’t. But presidents, Republicans and Democrats, have been doing this and getting away with it by not calling the wars they start wars.
This is a relatively new development in our history. Franklin D. Roosevelt wouldn’t have dreamed of starting a war if he couldn’t have gotten Congress to declare war. But in 1950, when North Korea invaded the South, President Harry Truman didn’t want to risk war with the Soviet Union and “Red” China, so he sent troops as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force in what he called a “police action.”
After that, Presidents started or joined a lot of wars. They just couldn’t call them wars.
After the hypocrisy and nature of our involvement in Vietnam was clear, Congress in 1973 passed something called the War Powers Act, that required presidents who ordered military actions to notify Congress within two days after they start fighting, and also mandates getting our men out of the war zone within 60 to 90 days.
Unfortunately for us, Congress frequently looks the other way on this, and Trump’s magazombies have and will continue to pause any laws he wants to break.
Well, there’s still a way to stop him.
The House of Representatives have the supreme “power of the purse,” meaning appropriations bills have to start there. And we can easily end any wars by having Congress to cut off funding for them. This has actually happened before:
When South Vietnam was collapsing in 1975, President Gerald Ford wanted to make one last-ditch military effort to help their hopeless government. Senator Jacob Javits, a fellow Republican, told him, “I will give you large sums for evacuation, but not a nickel for military aid.”
If Democrats capture even one house of Congress in November, that should be exactly what they do about our crazy war in Iran, and any other military misadventures Trump may try to pull. Of course, both houses should do that today. But unlike half a century ago, Republicans are nearly all Trump-worshiping sycophants.
Yes, any president has and must have the power to retaliate against attacks and credible threats. The founding fathers knew that when they wrote the Constitution. Nobody wants to take away the president’s ability to instantly respond to a nuclear attack. But we can’t survive one man or one-party dictatorship.
And no one man should be able to throw us into a potentially prolonged bloody war just because he feels like it.
Want to stop this insanity?
So let me say it again: Start getting your members of both houses of Congress to agree that this shall not stand, and they shall not fund insane and immoral wars.
And only support them if they vow to end this madness. Some little terrorist with a pipe bomb can’t kill American democracy and freedom.
Only we can. And that’s exactly what the Marmalade Messiah’s policies seemed designed to do.
History keeps repeating itself over and over. The major problem is most members spend a great deal of time raising money and have less interest in upholding a constitutional duty. When people say its not about $$$, it is
I think most members of Congress are investors and will go along with Trump as long as they believe the stock market will make them wealthier. They're used to thinking about short-term gains for themselves rather than what's good for the majority.