Forum Post: A letter to president Obama
Posted 11 years ago on Sept. 2, 2012, 7:27 a.m. EST by arturo
(3169)
from Shanghai, Shanghai
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
The following letter was e-mailed from Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC) on August 30, 2012 to the White House Legislative Affairs office, and also mailed in hard copy to the White House.
Dear Mr. President:
This letter is written to you out of grave concern that you will once again lead our nation into war without authorization from the Congress. As tensions and rhetoric rise in Syria and Iran, the power to declare war remains vested in the Congress. No resolution from the United Nations or NATO can supersede the power carefully entrusted with the representatives of the American people.
Whether it is Korea, Yugoslavia, or Libya, presidents have continually disregarded the Constitution and sent Americans to war without congressional authorization. In order to prevent further encroachment of executive power, I have introduced House Concurrent Resolution 107. My Resolution states:
"except in response to an actual or imminent attack against the territory of the United States, the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress violates Congress's exclusive power to declare war under article I, section 8, clause 11 of the Constitution and therefore constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution."
The above simply restates the Constitution. Our founding fathers had the unique perspective of living subject to the wars of choice waged by a King. As James Madison wrote, allowing the President alone to take the country into war would be "too much of a temptation for one man."
Outside of an actual or imminent attack on America, the only precursor to war can be the authorization of Congress. I call on you to abide by our Constitution, and rely on our country's representatives to decide when war is necessary. There is no greater responsibility than to send our sons and daughters to war. That responsibility remains with the United States Congress.
Sincerely, Walter B. Jones Member of Congress
The politicians have no intention of fixing the structural problems in this country tax/trade/foreign/monetary policies. They can't. Its not what they are paid to do (the million dollar campaign bribes, not the measly 160k we the people pay them).
Interest rates are at zero. Its been a slow creep towards worthlessness since 1980. You cant reduce past zero. And reducing rates has been the go-to move for curing recessions since 1980 (from 18% to now about .04%).
That leaves war. It's coming. The two factions will do as they are told, just like they always do. And that is to go and pillage.
The only solution is for the people to rise up and demand enough is enough with radical changes in their behavior. Right now we are content with going to the polls once every four years. That is not nearly enough action. Not even close. Every aspect of every decision in this country must be occupied. All of it. All the time. Until it changes.
And it might not. But at least we went down fighting.
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