Wars and debts and taxes, oh my!
By Michael Boldin
Online
Journal Guest Writer
Sep 28, 2006, 01:12
Recently, an Associated Press report reaffirmed to me
that the leadership of the two major political parties in America are totally
in favor of continuing war in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Senate agreed to spend an additional $63 billion for
military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as lawmakers passed a massive bill
that funds the Pentagon.
The bill sailed through by a vote of 98-0
I was immediately reminded of a common sense observation by
Thomas Paine: "In reviewing the history of the English Government, its
wars and its taxes, a bystander, not blinded by prejudice nor warped by
interest, would declare that taxes were not raised to carry on wars, but that
wars were raised to carry on taxes."
Interestingly enough, that doesn't sound much different than
what we experience today!
A two-headed
monster
There are only a few politicians that are truly opposed to
war. Some people are amazed or even angry when I state my position; that war is
not the fault of just Bush and the Republican Party, but the Democratic Party
as well; they are equally responsible for starting, fueling, and funding the
war machine.
If my memory hasn't failed yet, it wasn't just the
Republican Party that got us into this horrible mess. The Democrats voted for
it as well, promoted it as a necessity, and even bombed Iraq on a regular basis
throughout the 1990s; all the while aggressively supporting UN sanctions that
resulted in over one million innocents dead.
Not only did both parties authorize the invasion en masse,
they continue to join together to overwhelmingly approve billions more dollars
to continue the killing.
So, even though Bush will someday leave office and cease
being a "war president," we must start facing the fact that it's not
just him or his neo-conned Republican party that are guilty of war crimes; it's
the American political machine, fronted by both the Republicans and Democrats,
that is completely addicted to the power and profits of warfare. It's the
American political machine that we must resist.
The only way to improve America's image is to end our wars
immediately. We must also bring home all our troops, not only from Iraq and
Afghanistan, but also from the more than 100 other countries where the U.S.
government interferes with its so-called military presence. Of course, once we
achieve this, those Americans who would nonetheless wish to leave their
families and jobs to help oppressed people overseas would still be free to do so.
But, such a "withdrawal" will never happen as long
as the Republican and Democratic parties are ruling over us.
By now, it's become rather clear to those of us "not
blinded by prejudice nor warped by interest" that even when the People
want peace, the two major parties pursue war.
Another 98-0 vote should make that quite obvious.
Back to basics
The standard belief is that all American wars have been
fought to "protect freedom." On the contrary, these wars have been
the primary impetus for the growth of centralized power in the federal
government. Wars have eaten away at our liberty, crippled our economy,
intensified our national debt and shamed our image as the "land of the
free." We have lost freedom because of these wars, not secured it as the
politicians have told us.
Simply stated, the Constitution allows for the commencement
of war only after a declaration of war from the Congress. By waging wars
without the constitutionally required declaration of war, the president has
blatantly violated the Constitution.
Some people have tried to tell me that a declaration of war
wasn't necessary after Congress delegated this power to president in late 2002.
They claim that this was a legal substitute for the constitutionally-required
congressional declaration of war.
This is utter nonsense.
First of all, the power to "declare war" was given
to Congress by the Framers so that the legislature -- the branch most closely
tied to the People, whose money and lives would be put at risk -- would be
making the decision of whether or not war would commence. The
commander-in-chief only has the power to wage war once war has been declared.
It's the representatives of the People who have the power to declare war. Such
power is clearly enumerated in Article I, Section 8 of the
Constitution, and I encourage you to read it for yourself.
Furthermore, in accordance with the Tenth Amendment, the
Supreme Court has long held it to be illegal for any branch of the federal
government to delegate or transfer its constitutional powers to any other
person or branch of government.
Simply put, unless a direct attack is being repelled,
Congress is where war starts. Period.
The Constitution is the supreme law of the land that We the
People have instituted to limit the actions of federal officials. Like it or
not, politicians must abide by its restrictions on power. If they don't like a
particular part of the Constitution, or even if they think it's outdated, the
only appropriate action is to call for a constitutional amendment, not just
ignore the law.
By waging wars without a congressional declaration, the
executive branch has repeatedly violated the Constitution. By delegating its
power to declare war to the president, the Congress has repeatedly violated the
Constitution as well.
Dangerous to
liberty
Beginning with Harry Truman and the Korean War, Democrat and
Republican presidents alike have taken the position that it's no longer
necessary for Congress to declare war. Presidents send armed forces to fight
wars all over the world without congressional declarations.
The sad reality, though, is that Congress can stop or even
prevent such foreign entanglements at any time by simply refusing to finance
them. Such power is not insubstantial. The current war in Iraq has now been
going on for over 15 years, has spanned the administration of three presidents,
and multiple congresses under the control of both political parties. This
proves that Congress is just as responsible as the executive for this
unconstitutional war.
So, in Iraq, we see yet another failure of our vaunted
Constitutional Republic to maintain a peaceful America.
Thus, the Constitution has become little more than a
glorified sham, as Congress and the executive have habitually succeeded in
using it as a cover to violate our inalienable rights. Since our current wars
were started on unconstitutional grounds, any further funding and continuation
of them is illegal and unconstitutional. In this sense, any funding bills
approved by the Congress are illegitimate.
So, unfortunately, unless we do something ourselves, we're
stuck waiting for an unconstitutional Congress to take the lead. With yet
another war funding bill "sailing through the Senate," the prospects
for peace don't look too good.
The painful truth is that Democrats and Republicans aren't
going to end this war. We will, by refusing to play by their rules.
What the founders
thought
As the founders stated so often, the greatest threat to our
liberty is our own government. This is the only reason we even have the
Constitution and the Bill of Rights. If our government wasn't dangerous to
freedom, these documents wouldn't be necessary.
Historically, what is the number one way that governments
take away freedoms from the People? The founders knew quite well: through the
military. This is why many of the founders vehemently opposed a standing army;
a professional military force. They knew that such an institution would grow
into a beast, and be used to involve the country in dangerous, costly,
destructive and foolish wars. Even more so, they warned that politicians would
eventually use the troops to ensure a subservient citizenry at home.
There is only one solution to these threats to our liberty
and safety. We must finally act on the warnings of the founders against
standing armies. If we would have dismantled the massive American military
empire years ago, the federal government wouldn't have had the power to create
the catastrophe we face today. They wouldn't have had the ability to set up a
massive military presence throughout the Middle East. Thus, they would never
have been able to kill over a million in Iraq with unconstitutional wars,
sanctions, and invasions. Without all this death, we wouldn't have had the
alleged terrorist attacks on our country, and therefore, we wouldn't have had a
bogus "war on terrorism." Without the bogus "war on
terror," we never would have experienced the USAPATRIOT Act, warrantless
spying, secret courts, military tribunals, rendition flights, and other attacks
on our rights.
None of this would have been surprising to the founders.
James Madison gave us ample warning, "Of all the enemies to public
liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and
develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these
proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known
instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few."
Stopping war now
As stated so clearly in the Declaration of Independence, the
American people have every right to write a new declaration of independence
from the illegitimate, unlawful, and unconstitutional acts of their rulers.
Such rights are inalienable and absolute in all people. Rights cannot be
altered or abolished; governments can.
In fact, Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration,
felt that governments should be abolished periodically just to keep political
leaders in check. Shortly before the Constitution was ratified, he wrote to
Abigail Adams, "The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on
certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive."
My hope is that such a spirit of resistance will rise once
again before too many more innocent lives are lost.
Michael
Boldin [send him email],
an outspoken critic of the American political system, is a senior editor and contributing
writer for PopulistAmerica.com.
Copyright © 1998-2006 Online Journal
Email Online Journal Editor