Another Vote for Poll Governance
Mickey Edwards re Cheney’s “So?”
Topics: pols
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:25 am on Sunday, March 23, 2008
5 Responses to “Another Vote for Poll Governance”
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March 23rd, 2008 at 1:50 pm
‘The decision to go to war, I told the students — to send young Americans off to battle, knowing that some will die — is the single most difficult choice any public official can be called upon to make. That is precisely why the nation’s Founders, aware of the deadly wars of Europe, deliberately withheld from the executive branch the power to engage in war unless such action was expressly approved by the people themselves, through their representatives in Congress.’
Congress twice voted to use military force against Iraq, once in 1991, and again in 2002 (even though we’d been bombing Iraq for years). Congress also voted to use military force against Afghanistan in 2001. Bush has fallen all over himself to make sure that the representatives of the people and the states wished to go to war, and in the case of Iraq he even asked for a vote to determine whether they wisheed to escalate an ongoiing war. That’s more than you can say for a lot of presidents. Bill Clinton started bombing Serbia a few years back without so much as a by-your-leave from Congress.
So…what’s your beef, jerky?
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:13 pm
“Bush is officially America’s “head of state,” but he is not the head of government; he is the head of one branch of our government, and it’s not the branch that decides on war and peace.”
That is not correct. Congress has the power to decide to go to war, and controls the means to raise money to fight wars, however, all warmaking powers lie with the POTUS, and only he has the power to order our armed forces into battle. If he decides not to do so, then Congress’ power to declare war is rendered moot. Peace however is established by treaty, and it’s the president who has the power to make treaties (with the advice and consent of the Senate). In point of fact, it’s the POTUS who has the power to make peace.
The power to decide to wage wars lies mainly with Congress, the power to decide to make peace lies primarily with the POTUS, and each branch of government has powers they can use to check the powers of the other branch of government when it comes to engaging in war or making peace.
The problem with letting the people or “scholars” determine these matters is is that most of the people and most of the scholars are too ignorant to make these decisions. Hell, most of them aren’t even aware of how their own government functions, much less aware of what’s going on in places like Iraq.
March 23rd, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Obviously, this guy must not rank Lincoln or FDR very highly in the pantheon of American presidents, or George Washington for that matter, since 2/3 of the colonists either did not want or did not care about independence.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:29 am
What a muddle. I guess he doesn’t realize that Congress is part of the representational government that prompted Cheney’s “so?” I guess he doesn’t realize that Congress authorized the war. I guess he doesn’t realize that Congress could have stopped it at any time by not funding it. I guess, most of all, that he doesn’t realize how incredibly foolish it would be to run a war by poll once it has begun.
March 24th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Is Mickey, John’s brother? They sound alike.