GOP Presidential Candidates Demonstrate Disturbing Ignorance of Constitution

Truth News - During the recent “debate,” i.e., corporate media dog and pony show, all of the GOP candidates, with the notable exception of Ron Paul, demonstrated a complete and disturbing ignorance of the Constitution when corporate media script-reader Chris Matthews asked the following question: “If you were president of the United States, would you need to go to Congress to get authorization to take military action against Iran’s (imaginary) nuclear facilities?”

Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution states: “The Congress shall have Power… To declare War,” not the president shall have the power to attack nations—predicated on neocon lies—and then go to Congress and get approval.

But then, as Philip Bobbitt has noted, the Constitution’s statutory authorization to declare war is considered but a “contemporary textual preconception” by our rulers, as war has not been officially declared since World War II. In fact, the passage of the so-called War Powers Resolution in 1973—on its face unconstitutional—was created specifically to allow unitary deciders of Bush’s ilk to circumvent Congress, although we are told the exact opposite.

“It was hoped that the War Powers Resolution of 1973 would reign in our president’s authority to wage war without Congressional approval. It has not happened because all subsequent Presidents have essentially ignored its mandates. And unfortunately the interpretation since 1973 has been to give the President greater power to wage war with Congressional approval for at least 60 to 90 days as long as he reports to the Congress. These reports are rarely made and the assumption has been since 1973 that Congress need not participate in any serious manner in the decision to send troops,” explained Ron Paul in 1999, when Clinton bombed Kosovo. “It could be argued that this resulted from a confused understanding of the War Powers Resolution but more likely it’s the result of the growing imperial Presidency that has developed with our presidents assuming power, not legally theirs, and Congress doing nothing about it.”

Thus it makes perfect sense the present crop of presidential wanna-bes would declare the president has the right to bomb Iran without consulting Congress, never mind Congress would certainly go along with this egregious violation of domestic and international law, as there is no shortage of warmongers in the District of Criminals.