Never
mind reserving its sole right to declare war, Congress is now too
scared to pass even a wishy-washy Authorization for Use of Military
Force.
John Leake
In
27 BC, four years after Octavian defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra at
the Battle of Actium, he made a gesture to the Roman Senate of
surrendering his emergency, wartime power. All the Senators perceived
his gesture to be pure show, and they believed he had every intention of
retaining his direct command of the army. Out of fear, the Senators
gave him the title Augustus (August or Majestic) and officially granted
him direct, unlimited command of the army and the empire’s most
important provinces. Octavian, in effect, castrated the Senate.
The United States Constitution does NOT
grant the Executive the power to commit the nation to war. Only
Congress is authorized (Article I, Section 8, Clause 11) to commit the
nation, its young soldiers, and its resources to the business of killing
people and possibly being killed.
The last time Congress
adhered to its duty was in 1942. Since then, instead of declaring war,
Congress has preferred to pass Authorizations for Use of Military
Force—a wishy-washy legal concept that enables Congressmen to avoid full
commitment and therefore backlash if a conflict becomes unpopular or
costly.
This alone has been a disturbing departure from what the
Founding Fathers intended to safeguard the Republic and the liberty of
its citizens. They knew history, from which they regarded the ability to
wage war as the ultimate power that any government may possess—a power
that may inflict the greatest abuses, loss of liberty, and the greatest
peril to the nation’s existence.
On March 4, 2026, Congress
officially castrated itself by refusing to pass an Authorization of the
Use of Force, which would necessarily contain certain definitions and limits of the Executive’s right to use military force. Just like the Roman Senate did in 27 BC, they pretended as though their action was an expression of adhering to the Constitution.
Because their refusal to pass an Authorization was NOT
accompanied by the demand that the President cease military operations
pending their approval, they de facto granted the President the right to
wage war in Iran as he pleases, with no requirements or limits imposed
by Congress. Their action should be regarded as turning a blind eye to
the Executive’s extremely risky and costly use of military force. What
we are seeing now is literally James Madison’s worst nightmare.
In
the case of the Roman Senate in 27 BC, the Senators were afraid of
Octavian and his loyal army. In the case of the United States Congress
today, who are the Congressmen afraid of? To me, this is an extremely eery question to ponder.
In
this supreme matter of life and death, Congress has forfeited its
power, and now has the status of a court eunuch. Thus, it seems to me
that our Constitutional Republic is finished. Life will go on and
Congress may grow a pair and reassert itself, but what is now happening
has come unmoored from Constitutional law, leaving us at the mercy of
whatever President Trump (and whoever is influencing or controlling him)
decide.
I wonder how many Congressmen are aware that the U.S. Constitution went into effect on March 4, 1789—exactly 237 years ago.