Liberty Maven

Last week I wrote an article suggesting that Obama put the decision of war in Afghanistan back in the hands of Congress where it belongs. In a Washington Times op-ed Bruce Fein makes a similar argument for Obama’s Iraq exit strategy. I couldn’t agree with him more.

After Inauguration, he should declare the war illegal because it was initiated by President George W. Bush pursuant to an unconstitutional delegation of power by Congress effectuated by the Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq (AUMFAI). Mr. Obama should announce that all combat operations in Iraq will cease 30 days after Inauguration unless Congress enacts a statute directing him to continue the war.

He can depend on congressional inaction. Members lack both the incentive and political backbone to take responsibility for sending men and women to die on a fool’s errand to make Shi’ites, Sunnis, and Kurds democrats after 5,000 consecutive years of despotism and vicious tribal, ethnic or religious enmities.

After Congress balks at President Obama’s challenge, all U.S. combat troops in Iraq would return home in an orderly fashion beginning February 2009. President Obama could blame any ensuing Iraqi strife, ethnic cleansing or domination by Iran on Congress for failing to prolong the war.

Fein goes a bit further and suggests that such action is a win-win for Obama.

The first three comments to this piece on the Washington Times site demonstrates the complete and utter ignorance many people still have about the authority of the Constitution. The document is law. It is not just law, but the “supreme law of the land.” Just because a lawmaking body in the 21st century makes a law in direct opposition to the Constitution doesn’t mean the 18th century document is null and void.

In practice though, that is what the Constitution has become and sadly, that may be all that matters. The great question of our time may be: How can the Constitution effectively protect our natural rights when the citizens have left it up to the federation of money and power hungry bureaucrats in Washington to enforce and follow it? They aren’t interested in natural right preservation. They are solely interested in power preservation.

Maybe the answer lies in the question itself. It is up to the people to enforce Constitutional restrictions on our government, but how can this be done in this era of government and citizen co-dependence?

In time, the only remedy for such co-dependence may be a new Declaration of Independence.