CONSTITUTIONAL EROSION: Presidential Usurpation Of Congress’ Authority To Declare War

Since the end of WW II, every time we used our military against another nation, this nation has acted outside the confines of the Constitution.  The Constitution is the Social Contract which formed this nation, and under which this nation continues to exist.  This means the Constitution is the supreme law of our land.  This also means that the government has violated the Social Contract every time it used military power since WW II – and the people have done nothing about it.  If one side of a contract continuously breaks their terms of the agreement and the second Party doesn’t object and seek restitution, eventually, it is assumed that the second Party agrees to the violation.  At that point, the Party that has been violating the contract either assumes those violations as rightfully theirs, or the contract is considered null and void all together.  This happens with republics, as well.  If we allow our government to continuously violate the Constitution, sooner or later, it will either assume those violations are part of its authority or, more likely, that the Constitution no longer applies to it or its actions. When that happens, we will have the tyranny our founders warned us about, and it will have come from exactly the place our founders told us it would: from within our own borders – from us.

The Constitution grants the authority to declare war and to raise an Army to Congress and only to Congress:

Article I, Section 8

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

 This means that the War Powers Act is unnecessary and unconstitutional.  If it is deemed that changes in modern military technologies make it necessary that the President, as commander in chief, be able to respond to an attack faster than Congress can declare war and authorize that response, then the Constitution needs to be and should be amended.  But Congress has no authority to amend the Constitution via legislation.  Nor does it have the authority to cede its powers to the Presidency.  Likewise, there is no inherent authority in the Presidency – as commander in chief – to commit a military action against another nation without Congressional action.  The Constitution is very clear on this matter: the military is under the direct control of the Congress.  And even though the President is the commander in chief, he has no authority to commit the military to action unless and until the Congress declares war.  And Congress must declare war to grant such action as it has no other Constitutional means to authorize military action.  Anything and everything outside of this process is a clear violation of the Constitution and, thus, of the Social Contract, Natural Rights of every citizen and, ultimately, Natural Law.  And every attempt to usurp Congressional power for the Presidency is an open act of tyranny.

Yes, this applies to UN sanctioned actions, as well.  There is nothing in the Constitution giving the President or Congress authority to cede this nation’s sovereignty via treaty.  Any such treaty would be unconstitutional, thus, it is null and void – even if it was ratified.  Therefore, the UN has no authority to direct this nation to engage in military actions without Congress actually voting to declare war first.  Once again, any attempt to supersede the Constitution through treaty represents a violation of the Constitution and an open act of tyranny.

This is why it is vital that every citizen of a free and self-governing republic know and understand the principles of Natural Law: the foundation upon which liberty is built.