An unknown person posted this recently online.

We think that the point is obvious.

(We have not been able to separately verify that these quotes are accurate, but they fit both the men and the times.)

What happened? Why, since June of 1942, has Congress never actually declared war, although appropriating money (stolen from taxpayers past, present, and future) to fight for literally decades? The constitution has not been amended to remove such language, or to give the Executive the power to go to war, since these three men wrote what they did.

Simply, the Constitution is being ignored. Not even having lip service paid to it.

Of course, even before 1950 (the North’s invasion of the Republic of Korea), the FedGov went to war multiple times without Congress actually declaring war. The US Senate’s website claims that war has been declared just 11 times (senate.gov) but six of those were against various countries in World War 2, and two were for the Great War. But starting in 1801 with the First Barbary War, the FedGov has fought hundreds of conflicts.

The Senate website claims: “Since that time [1942] it [Congress] has agreed to resolutions authorizing the use of military force and continues to shape U.S. military policy through appropriations and oversight.” Okay, we’ll take that with a large grain of salt.

But why? Is that not the real question? Why do we no longer have Congress declare war? Why do we not get a say (through our representatives and our State’s senators, admittedly) on whether we are going to send our young men and women into harm’s way?

Some suggest that it is fear in Congress. A fear of accountability, and therefore a willingness to let George do it: let the POTUS or his minions actually send the ships, planes, and troops out. Closely related to this is perhaps the idea that when things go wrong, they had yet another hammer to beat on the White House. There is also the fear, in Congress and elsewhere, that for decades the Congress has become slower and slower in making decisions. About the budget, about dealing with trade issues, and many other matters that most people consider important.

Whatever the reason, we note that Congress (despite all the loud claims) demonstrates two tendencies. First, to “delegate” more and more power to the Presidency. And second, to order and allow federal bureaucrats (all supposedly in the Executive Branch, under the President) to micromanage more and more of daily life while giving them more power to do so. Power which is supposedly limited by the “power of the purse” but in reality, unlimited except for a very few judicial decisions or acts of Congress.

We note that these constant “acts of war” (practically, whether legally such or not) are seldom a matter of directly responding to an attack by some group. Indeed, most are either preventative or intended to stop something that might become a threat. Or be used to back up a threat. Crazy as that is.

Put simply, Congress has issued what is close to a carte blanche by Congress for the President, the Department of War, and other Executive Branch agencies to initiate force without specific permission from Congress (a declaration of war). Despite various “safeguards” – which seem to generally be ignored or intended to accomplish nothing, the President has (and is expected to use) the power to attack anyone, anyplace, anytime. This is part of a general expansion of power by the FedGov, usurping both individual’s power to run their own lives, and stealing away more and more sovereignty from the States.

Few people recognize or understand this. Fewer seem to have any problem with it.

Which is why we must constantly take advantage of every opportunity to teach people about the problems, the evils of our current situation.