by Marc Torney
Daily Egyptian
U-Wire
A defining moment in U.S. history occurred Oct. 10 as both the House and the Senate voted to pass the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq.
These elected officials have done a great disservice to their country. In the fervent rush to line up behind the president, the legislators of this country have abdicated their duties as outlined by Article I Section VIII of the United States Constitution.
That article states that Congress, as in not the president, shall make declarations of war. Yet time after time since the middle half of last century, Congress has left the making of war to the executive branch.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
In sixth grade history classes across the country, students learn, as we once did, about the glorious checks and balances of our government system. The teacher will often proclaim colonists implemented these checks and balances so the fledgling nation did not tear down one king, only to prop up another. It made me proud indeed during that sixth grade class to learn my country was fair and just; my country was free.
Where are the checks and balances today? On Thursday, the legislative branch of government acted as a puppet for the executive branch, legitimizing the arrogant claims and falsehoods of the president. Meanwhile, the third branch sits idly by, never interfering in politics.
None of this is anything new: The last declared war was World War II. Since that time the executive office has used almost unrestrained power in deciding the fate of American soldiers and foreign civilians. American wars, which were never approved by a congressional declaration of war, have caused the slaughter of millions of human beings in the decades since.
I will not point fingers at the executive office, however; the guilt of the presidents in these "police actions" and "peace keeping missions" is well documented.
The blame today rests with Congress. The president asked for, and received, unprecedented power for engaging in war as Congress stepped aside gingerly, hoping to avoid the issues of a divided nation at election time.
In vacating its roll in the declaration of war, Congress has lost all relevancies. These are men and women who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America. They have lied to us all.
Democrat Tom Daschle spoke of the need to provide a unified front, to support the president in trying times. There is never a need to provide a unified front, for without dissent, democracy becomes totalitarianism.
In the rush to appear patriotic, in the stampede to cast away constitutional rights, Congress has decided the course our nation will follow: the road to war. They seek to avoid angering voters, to pass the potential blame to the president and his advisors. For every U.S. soldier who dies, bloodied in a foreign land, fighting for a cause that is not his own, Congress is guilty.
For every Iraqi citizen, child, mother and father who dies bleeding in their family's arms, Congress is guilty.
What does today's teacher tell that sixth grade class? Does he speak of checks and balances or of deference to the commander-in-chief? The Constitution has been replaced by the symbol of the flag, no less emotionally binding, but of vague meaning. Instead of strident rules for governing and protection of rights, we have ambiguous patriotism, a feeling of duty. Is it the duty of Americans, Congress included, to agree with the president, or if they do not agree, to simply go along anyway?
Checks and balances are fictions told to us by our sixth grade teachers, as bogus as Santa Claus and as laughable as the Easter Bunny. Democracy is kept vital through dissent; if dissent is lacking, democracy fails. Congress has done just that: It has failed the American people. In the upcoming months and years, the president will send thousands of American soldiers to fight in a war of dubious necessity in the Middle East. Remember who gave him that power.
