"Well, h#ll, since we've thrown out the rest, might as well throw out Congressional power over the military, eh? The President is only Commander in Chief once Congress declares war."
Article II Section 2. [Excerpt of Pertinencies] "The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States;"
It does not say "only Commander in Chief once Congress declares war." It says that he's the Commander in Chief, and there's no qualification as to when. That means always. But Congress can and should declare war, yes. And where it says "when called into the actual service of the United States," that pertains to the militia (National Guard), not the President. The President is always in service and always the Commander in Chief of the military.
The Congress will raise funding, make rules, regulations, etc., about military actions in general, and they do. But as Commander in Chief, the President gives orders to the military. And there's no qualification as to when he may do so.
It's not about "fine print." It's more about common sense (i.e., not having to wait for Congress to defend us) and reading the English carefully, word for word.
We are blessed, indeed, that our founders did not open us to waiting on Congress to answer any nuclear strike or any other surprise attacks against the USA.
This is not only about Iraq, you know. Quite a few other countries have rulers who have been illegitimately blaming us in front of their ignorant, impoverished peoples for whatever bothers them for many years now. They do it to keep their own people from putting the blame where it belongs. And many in other countries yet (France and Canada, to name only two), have been instigating blame against us in countries where rulers cheat their own people. Behind the URL that follows, you'll see one of many countries that need information assistance from us so the people in those countries can address their problems directly instead of blaming and extorting us.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/873665/posts
And liberaltarians and other anarchists? They help despots in other countries to blame us by way of all kinds of stupid conspiracy canards. If the left can't get what it wants by keeping socialist Presidents in the USA endlessly, the left tries to help enemies elsewhere to gather WMD and rile their peoples into destroying our government and country.
Right now, several other countries are developing madness against us among their peoples and trying to acquire and build nuclear weapons for the purpose of destroying us.
We shouldn't wait until nuclear conflict is the only answer. That's why we're going over there now.
BTW, I've continued to hear about Mr. Frum. Mr. Frum is a Canadian, right? I'm concerned with USA affairs. Canadians should be helping Mr. Frum there, unless they want more decades of Pure Idiot Trudoh successors (which I've long believed to be the case with liberaltarians up there, as they scare would-be conservatives away from conservative efforts).
And thanks to all the Canadians who've been bashing us and our President. You've assured through bringing out our Yankee stubbornness, that we'll stay Republican for a very long time.
Heeelllooo??? Anybody in there? If you also notice the time that the military may be called up is for two years and the assumption held by the Founders is that we wouldn't need a standing military. Granted, in today's Wilsonian foreign policy era of sticking our noses into anything and everything (to heck with whether these US are being attacked or not apparently), we need not only a standing military but one armed to the teeth as well. Given that however, Congress should still have the power over the military that it is granted under the Constitution. That means that while the President is CIC, that doesn't mean he can order them all over the world at what he feels may be a threat in 10-20 years.
You throw up Article II, Sec 2 as if that's a pass to do anything he feels is in the best interests of these US at the time and that it is somehow exclusive of the rest of the Constitution. Heck, why have checks and balances at all? Let's just do as Hamilton wanted (and suggested in Constitutional Convention) and have a limited monarchy. As for your statement
But Congress can and should declare war, yes. And where it says "when called into the actual service of the United States," that pertains to the militia (National Guard), not the President.
grammatically you know yourself that's not true. If it were the statement would read
'The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states when called into the actual service of the United States;" (comma missing)as that the last statement would only be applying to the militia
It's not about "fine print." It's more about common sense (i.e., not having to wait for Congress to defend us) and reading the English carefully, word for word.
I suggest you brush up on your English a little more carefully because you missed an important grammatical mark that changes the entire intent of the statement
Right now, several other countries are developing madness against us among their peoples and trying to acquire and build nuclear weapons for the purpose of destroying us. We shouldn't wait until nuclear conflict is the only answer. That's why we're going over there now.
Ah, preemptive strikes is it? And as a Christian I am concerned about the peoples of the nations that are being oppressed. But listen real carefully now. Contrary to what you, Mr. Frum, William Buckley, and Bill Kristol think, there is no 'responsibility for the rest of the world' clause in the Constitution. If we, as a nation of separate and sovereign states, would quit sticking our noses into every conflict where we're trying to 'help spread democracy' only to establish a tinpot dictator that 30 years later comes back worse than the first, perhaps the world might be a tad bit safer. Heck, I don't know. But I do know that for over 90 years we've tried Wilson's ideals and they've only gotten this nation of states into worse and worse jams. Maybe we should try following the Constitution and see how that works.
As it is now, it's a moot point, the troops are over there, and I wish them a quick success. However as I have said, get in, get out, and let the nation worry about rebuilding itself