The President of the United States wants to go to war and
is pushing Congress for a declaration of such. He would not be the first
president antsy to put troops in harm’s way in a foreign country. Congress’
mandate is not needed; many commander-in-chiefs have just done a unilateral
decision and convinced the country that it was at war. But the pseudo leader
who has broken most of the laws the country stands for, feels the need now to
be totally above board and insist the letter of the law is carried out. The
most obvious answer for this is that he does not want blamed when body bags
start being sent home-he want to blame someone else, as he has done his entire
life.
But what of this declaration of war? You must know that
congress has never turned down a president when he has made this request. The
first president to ask for a declaration of war was fourth President James
Madison as he drug the country into what is called the War of 1812. The most
powerful man in the country, more so than Madison himself was Speaker of the
House Henry Clay. I am an admirer of Clay and will have a new book on the Kentuckian coming out later
this year, but I must confess Clay’s push into war “with
the arrogance of youth and the ambition of national attention.”[1]
Many, many presidents
have been anxious to declare war-but why? Writer and Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait
says it best when he says war is good for the economy because dead guys can’t
flip burgers, in other words, a good old fashioned war is usually the answer
when the economy lags for any amount of time.
However, there have
been two presidents, both war generals, who have cautioned their successors
away from foreign entanglements: George Washington and Dwight D. Eisenhower. “A
government for the whole is indispensable,” Washington warned. “No alliances,
however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute. They must
inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances in
all times have experienced.”[2]
One hundred fifty years later, Eisenhower, the man who had masterminded the
D-Day invasion was warning the nation that “we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted
influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”[3] Both Washington and Eisenhower knew that if
left unchecked, military power will continue to grow and, like everything else,
will need to be constantly fed.
The problem is, the current president doesn’t believe in
what he’s selling. Don’t get me wrong, he don’t mind a good Republican war, one
approved by a Republican president (as was the story with the war in Iraq and
Afghanistan which had been begun by George W. Bush) and supported by then
candidate Barry in his campaign in ’08 (against Senate and War Veteran John
McCain).
But, to lead a war, you have to go down unsafe avenues:
and he’s never had to do that.
In his first political
campaign, he won by simply having his opponents declared ineligible to run. In
his only two years in the U. S. Senate, he voted neither yes nor no to any
of the tough issues: he simply voted
‘present.’
What of the current
Secretary of State, John Kerry? Kerry was the one who as the presidential
nominee in 2004 proudly reminded us constantly he served in Vietnam, and yes he
did. But he was the same Kerry who, upon his return to the states threw his
medals away and became a war protestor. This was the same Kerry who, during the
campaign would say he had proudly voted for the then current Iraq War before he
voted against it. It is Kerry who has led the charge against how bad Syria is:
I wouldn’t believe Kerry if he guaranteed me the sun would come up yesterday.
President Barry and
Sec Kerry have made an agreement with Russia to keep Syria in check. RUSSIA, of
all people, I know times change, but Russia has ALWAYS been the bad guy.
However, Benjamin
Netanyahu, the current Prime Minister of Israel, is not impressed with any of
our overtures. The Unites States has been an ally of Israel since it became a
state in 1948. It is written in the Bible that “Blessed be the Lord your God .
. . because your God loved Israel and would establish them forever.”[4]
It therefore sounds like Israel is important, and explains why we have been an
ally.
So President Barry
will probably get his war, and it will be up to the people to know which side
they are on, the side of God and Israel, or the side of the president and the
Muslim brotherhood.
Which side do you
choose?
