By Joshua Hansen
It’s been a while since I’ve penned (or typed) anything political. I figured I’d share this with a few people because I’m trying to get back into the habit of annihilating the utterly ignorant and useless.

I hate Republican shills. So when one of them says to me:
The commander in chief has the power to go into a military action. He doesn’t have to declare war. He does have the power to send troops whereever he wants and for whatever length of time. it is Congress who declares war and provides the funding for the war and/or military action. Therefore, the Rep. Prez did not breach the laws, he used them to his benefit and the rest of the country convinced the congress to declare and provide funding. It was an excellent political campaign.
I am forced to respond with wit, research, common sense, intelligence and everything else these people lack at every level:
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So, “[t]he commander in chief has the power to go into a military action.” Really?
Let’s take a moment and look at what the constitution actually says:
“The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States;”
Whereas, you say: “He does have the power to send troops whereever he wants and for whatever length of time.”
I don’t see that in there anywhere. Like most warmongers, you read way too much into “Commander in Chief” without actually considering the framework which that title and its duties and powers exist within or what “actual Service of the United States” means. So, let’s move from Article II back to Article I which reads:
“[The Congress shall have Power To] To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;”
If the president can simply use the military as his personal chess set and the only option congress has is to cut funding, why bother even mentioning a declaration of war at all? It would render the notion of declaring war “mere surplusage,” legally speaking, and when it comes to interpreting law, anyone worth their salt knows that it is always presumed that any section of a statute or law is there because the legislature meant to put it there.
(And this is without getting into the gross constitutional violations the lack of real state militias are and the existence of an Air Force is.)
The president can’t quarter troops in my house. Why? The third amendment limits doesn’t all for that. This means “Commander in Chief” isn’t carte blanche to just do whatever you want with the military until congress cuts off the funds. Such a view of presidential powers would make Madison roll over in his grave. (Something he does every single day under that huge obelisk at Montpelier.)
Now, with the specifics of the constitution covered, let’s see what Bouvier’s Law Dictionary has to say about what a war is (and if you don’t know what Bouvier’s Law Dictionary is there isn’t even a point to discussing the constitutionality of something with you):
“To legalize a war it must be declared by that branch of the government entrusted by the constitution with this power.”
A war is “A contention by force; or the art of paralysing the forces of an enemy.” and “War is not only an act, but a state or condition, for nations are said to be at war not only when their armies are engaged, so as to be in the very act of contention, but also when, they have any matter of controversy or dispute subsisting between them which they are determined to decide by the use of force, and have declared publicly, or by their acts, their determination so to decide it.”
We’re at war. The “conflict” is a war, just like Korea and Vietnam were. They were undeclared wars, but whether you label them “military campaigns” or “police actions” or “peacekeeping missions” or some other ridiculous term to try to snake out of proper constitutional protections, it doesn’t change reality. A rose by any other name…
All branches of government have a duty to uphold and defend the constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic. Just because one branch totally fails in its duty (Congress) doesn’t mean another (The President) is made right by acting on it.
If Bush actually cared about the constitution he would have asked congress to simply declare war. Why wouldn’t they? They voted for the USA PATRIOT Act without a hitch. Seeing as they have no issue with continued funding, I’m sure they would have made the declaration. However, they simply didn’t. Why? Because virtually no one in the Federal government cares about the constitution except when its politically expedient. It’s viewed as an obstacle to be dodged and avoided rather than a cornerstone of our nation. The fact that something like declaring war is so casually ignored tells you everything you need to know about den of thieves we’ve placed in power in Washington DC. (Then and now.)
We’re in a war. Bush put us there. It hasn’t been declared. It’s unconstitutional. Period. Not that this particular incident touches on the long list of unconstitutional treachery we received from Bush… and Clinton… and Bush… and Reagan… and Carter… and Ford… and Nixon… and Johnson… and Kennedy… and Eisenhower… and Truman… and Roosevelt… (and I certainly wouldn’t want to leave our the current traitor in office.)
But hey, why get caught up in the actual moral and ethical implications of an action when you can try to justify the tyrannical behavior of your own party by simply spiriting it away with a legal argument that is as trite as it is incorrect? Such tactics have no place in the realm of reality or objectivity, which are the only realms I deal in.
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Check mate.
Stupid, stupid shills. The most depressing aspect of my current political understanding is that until people like the above cease to exist in such quantities as they do—whether it be a plague or a financial collapse or a serious leap in human evolution brought on by something ethereal or extraterrestrial—freedom will remain dead. The community at large doesn’t want it.
How to do make a society free that doesn’t want to be?