The remedial forces to restore the balance of congressional/presidential requirements needed to constitutionally agree on declaring war (or any rephrased or spun terminology for declaring war) can be discerned by examination of the history of its progressive lop-sidedness. Any restoration to re-empower congressional power would have to come from the Democratic Party, as the extant distortions concerning war have come from the former, pre-fascist Republican Party. The Democratic Party, examined for the many, many failures to respond with the balancing powers they are supposed to represent over the last thirty years, can best be described as ineffectual, puerile, missing-in-action. Postured with condescending, entitled politeness, hapless and routine. Camoflaged behind sanctimonious speeches made one by one by ass-saving Democrats hardly are persuasive to deter the simple fact that the Dems are, have been, the needed enablers to the distortions of power by their constant inaction. Note how so suddenly they do now show energy, summonlng up the vital verve to keep the Democratic Party as it has been, in control. This voting country will never respond to this political corpse again, deflated by observing how the new, real promise of Bernie/AOC and other new factions are daily energetically trivialized by the old cadre within the Democratic Party. As a former life-long Democrat, I say "let no man write my epitaph."
How does the US citizenry extract itself from this non-virtuous, virtue-signaling, tribal warfare? Decades ago, Ayatollah Khomeini was challenged by a journalist who asked "How do you intend to govern your country when you do not have a mandate and only 30% of the population supports you?" The Supreme Leader's response? "Yes, that is true, but we have all of the guns." Iran's current leader is no different. It is also apparent that Trump has all of the guns. The military, The FBI, ICE, Homeland Security. He has all the guns. If one includes the DoJ, and consider it a Legal Gunslinger, or illegal, he has that as well. And he is willing to use them. Both internationally and domestically, Trump is willing to use the guns.
A really good post. The problem is that courts found every excuse to avoid war powers issues after Vietnam and Congress has largely decided not to act. The result is that the executive branch--with a leaning forward OLC--has come up with a legal standard that can justify virtually all military action without congressional authorization. If bombing Serbia for two months, invading Panama and Grenada, or sending 20,000 troops to Haiti to force the President to leave is not "war" requiring congressional action--all actions supported by OLC--then nothing will qualify as war. The only remedy is to force Congress to act--which is the theme of the proposals you cite. https://notesfortheperplexed.substack.com/p/did-the-strikes-on-iran-violate-the?r=kjxd5
I agree that Congress should claw back lots of its constitutional authority that it has either squandered, wrongfully delegated, or let die on the vine—from war powers to Chevron. But I could see different people defining the word “unprovoked” quite differently.
The remedial forces to restore the balance of congressional/presidential requirements needed to constitutionally agree on declaring war (or any rephrased or spun terminology for declaring war) can be discerned by examination of the history of its progressive lop-sidedness. Any restoration to re-empower congressional power would have to come from the Democratic Party, as the extant distortions concerning war have come from the former, pre-fascist Republican Party. The Democratic Party, examined for the many, many failures to respond with the balancing powers they are supposed to represent over the last thirty years, can best be described as ineffectual, puerile, missing-in-action. Postured with condescending, entitled politeness, hapless and routine. Camoflaged behind sanctimonious speeches made one by one by ass-saving Democrats hardly are persuasive to deter the simple fact that the Dems are, have been, the needed enablers to the distortions of power by their constant inaction. Note how so suddenly they do now show energy, summonlng up the vital verve to keep the Democratic Party as it has been, in control. This voting country will never respond to this political corpse again, deflated by observing how the new, real promise of Bernie/AOC and other new factions are daily energetically trivialized by the old cadre within the Democratic Party. As a former life-long Democrat, I say "let no man write my epitaph."
How does the US citizenry extract itself from this non-virtuous, virtue-signaling, tribal warfare? Decades ago, Ayatollah Khomeini was challenged by a journalist who asked "How do you intend to govern your country when you do not have a mandate and only 30% of the population supports you?" The Supreme Leader's response? "Yes, that is true, but we have all of the guns." Iran's current leader is no different. It is also apparent that Trump has all of the guns. The military, The FBI, ICE, Homeland Security. He has all the guns. If one includes the DoJ, and consider it a Legal Gunslinger, or illegal, he has that as well. And he is willing to use them. Both internationally and domestically, Trump is willing to use the guns.
A really good post. The problem is that courts found every excuse to avoid war powers issues after Vietnam and Congress has largely decided not to act. The result is that the executive branch--with a leaning forward OLC--has come up with a legal standard that can justify virtually all military action without congressional authorization. If bombing Serbia for two months, invading Panama and Grenada, or sending 20,000 troops to Haiti to force the President to leave is not "war" requiring congressional action--all actions supported by OLC--then nothing will qualify as war. The only remedy is to force Congress to act--which is the theme of the proposals you cite. https://notesfortheperplexed.substack.com/p/did-the-strikes-on-iran-violate-the?r=kjxd5
To call Trump's action "unprovoked" requires poor historical knowledge.
I agree that Congress should claw back lots of its constitutional authority that it has either squandered, wrongfully delegated, or let die on the vine—from war powers to Chevron. But I could see different people defining the word “unprovoked” quite differently.