You're wrong.
You need both Congress AND the President to wage a successful war. The President commands the troops. Congress funds the effort. Can't have one without the other, though each may try.
The President can command the troops to wage war until the money runs out. Then he needs Congress to fund the effort. Congress can declare that they want to fund a war, but they will get nowhere with out a CIC to wage the war.
That is what a system of checks and balances is all about.
That's the simplicity of the Constitution.
That is what a system of checks and balances is all about.
That's the simplicity of the Constitution.
You could hardly be more wrong.
The United States Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land in our country, delegates the power to declare war to the Congress and the power to wage war to the President. What that means is that only the Congress, as representatives of the People and of the States, can determine whether or not the nation goes to war. If the People, through Congress, decide that the nation shall go to war, the President then, and only then, has the authority to wage it.
Unless the country is being invaded, if the congress does not declare war against another country, the president is constitutionally barred from waging it, no matter how much he desires to do so.
I can hardly believe that someone who posts on FR could have such little regard for the clear words of the Constitution. Your view denigrates that great document no less than the "living document" view of the progressives. Our system of checks and balances is not predicated on one branch being able to disregard the Constitution until another branch does something about it. It is based on each branch abiding by the powers granted to it by the Constitution itself.
I find your heretical view of the Constitution frightening and suggest that you read up on the history of the writing of the Constitution, including when Pierce Butler brought up his view of the war-making powers of the presidency, that was quite similar to yours, and how he was renounced by all of the other members of the convention.