UNDECLARED WAHRUH

(The following was originally submitted as a letter to the editor in response to an article in the Louisa, Virginia Central Virginian, but it never ran. It has been slightly modified since.)

With regard to the undeclared War On Terror conducted, first, by President George Bush and now by President Barack Obama, it must be recognized that the United States is supposed to be governed strictly by laws and not by the whim of a mere majority of politicians, or even voters, The US Constitution MUST control how war is waged by our country, regardless of the methods used by other nations. War involves death and injury to persons and property. Those are drastic, lasting consequences, not to be taken lightly by those of us privileged to avoid them.

The events of the past 6 or 7 years in Iraq and Afghanistan, though heavily funded by Congress, are not declared wars. As many argue, those conflicts may well be "war," but they are patently illegal, just as the Vietnam "War" and the Korean "War" were also illegal. The last declared war involving the United States was World War II, almost 70 years ago. Only the Congress has the power to "declare war" under Article I. There is no explicit power under Article II for the President to "conduct" war.

The US Supreme Court ruled during the Vietnam conflict that the military funding of that conflict by the Congress was the "equivalent" of a declaration of war. Our Supreme Court gets to define what the law "is," as Chief Justice John Marshall said long ago, but the "equivalency" analysis is still utter nonsense. Powerful political arguments about terrorism and Communism, in due course, have been raised in support of those undeclared wars. Even if valid, those arguments are utterly irrelevant to a constitutional analysis of what is empowered under the Constitution and what is not.

The Tenth Amendment (*) makes it clear to me that there are no implied powers for the President nor for the Congress. That Amendment has been frequently (and mistakenly) regarded as the "states' rights" amendment, but it is totally silent as to "rights." Powers are either granted to the Federal government or they are not. While military personnel certainly have the "right" (or power) of self-defense in an emergency situation, sustained conflict amounting to war, especially in a foreign place, cannot be lawfully conducted by the President under the rubric of the "commander-in-chief" clause in Article II, absent a congressional declaration of war. That is just rank imperialism, and the people of other countries know it to be so.

So long as the power structure in our government continues to "bless" these noxious lies, as it has so far, it will be so. We, the people cannot do a thing about it if the courts are unwilling to "call a spade a spade, and not a shovel." Our sole remedy is to vote out those who disregard the Constitution, but these current "wars" are popular, so long as they do not jeopardize or personally involve the comfortable and the powerful. To oppose these conflicts is to be branded a coward or traitor for not "supporting the troops." These conflicts vicariously feed a powerful "playground" instinct in us civilians for revenge and world dominance. The Usual Suspects will continue to be re-elected, and undeclared imperialistic "wars" will continue, to our ultimate regret I predict. Meanwhile, thousands of our troops and civilians in other lands will continue to be killed or maimed for life, needlessly. That is not "support" for the troops.

I also firmly believe that the reported multiple instances of wanton, indiscriminate torture of detainees whose individual guilt has not been determined were not really for the purpose of extracting information but instead for imposing harsh and brutal and vengeful punishment on the detainees merely because they are "different," and especially because they are not "Christian." Recent polls of many vicious Americans still supporting torture confirm this. America is predominantly a mean, nasty, hypocritical pseudo-Christian culture, rotten to the core.

Those who approve of the current foolishness going on in the Middle East, need to read (and vote) the Constitution. That is the unavoidable starting point. We should "support the troops" by bringing them all home. Now.


(*) AMENDMENT X: The powers not delegated to the United State by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.