[Expanded Answer to Question 7]
President Biden was recently asked, “Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?”
That made as much sense as asking the President whether he would affirm Roe v. Wade. It ignored the separation of power between the three branches of government, wrongly assuming one person, the President—currently an apparently impaired and historically gaffe-prone Biden, or perhaps, at another time, an impulsive and ignorant fool like Trump—is empowered to decide whether our nation will engage in war, possibly leading to nuclear annihilation.
President Biden answered that question, “Yes. That’s the commitment we made.” Suddenly, the President, without any authorization by Congress, announced the U.S. would go to war—a mass-killing-and-destruction competition—against China if it invaded Taiwan. Yet, as the Supreme Court has made clear, “the whole powers of war. . . , by the constitution of the United States, [are] vested in congress.” Talbot v. Seeman, 5 U.S. 1 (1801).
Recently President Biden falsely claimed that NATO membership commits member nations to militarily intervene if a member is attacked. According to President Biden, “the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory with the full force of American power.”
The NATO treaty provides that it “shall be ratified and its provisions carried out by the Parties in accordance with their respective constitutional processes.” The constitutional processes in the U.S. are clear. Contrary to President Biden’s erroneous view, Secretary of State Dean Acheson, testifying in support of NATO in 1949, stated: “[Article 5] does not mean that the United States would automatically be at war if one of the other signatory nations were the victim of an armed attack. Under our Constitution, the Congress alone has the power to declare war.”
Betrayals to our constitutional republic by presidents who begin wars without the authorization of Con-gress have led to a devastating history of unjustifiable wars costing millions of lives and untold misery, initiated by reckless, dishonest presidents, including the Mexican-American War (which was begun by President Polk before Congress declared war), the Viet Nam War, and the Iraq War. Those wars likely would have been avoided had Congress, after holding hearings and debates before the wars were begun, made the determination about whether to engage in war, as is its exclusive constitutional prerogative and responsibility.
That made as much sense as asking the President whether he would affirm Roe v. Wade. It ignored the separation of power between the three branches of government, wrongly assuming one person, the President—currently an apparently impaired and historically gaffe-prone Biden, or perhaps, at another time, an impulsive and ignorant fool like Trump—is empowered to decide whether our nation will engage in war, possibly leading to nuclear annihilation.
President Biden answered that question, “Yes. That’s the commitment we made.” Suddenly, the President, without any authorization by Congress, announced the U.S. would go to war—a mass-killing-and-destruction competition—against China if it invaded Taiwan. Yet, as the Supreme Court has made clear, “the whole powers of war. . . , by the constitution of the United States, [are] vested in congress.” Talbot v. Seeman, 5 U.S. 1 (1801).
Recently President Biden falsely claimed that NATO membership commits member nations to militarily intervene if a member is attacked. According to President Biden, “the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory with the full force of American power.”
The NATO treaty provides that it “shall be ratified and its provisions carried out by the Parties in accordance with their respective constitutional processes.” The constitutional processes in the U.S. are clear. Contrary to President Biden’s erroneous view, Secretary of State Dean Acheson, testifying in support of NATO in 1949, stated: “[Article 5] does not mean that the United States would automatically be at war if one of the other signatory nations were the victim of an armed attack. Under our Constitution, the Congress alone has the power to declare war.”
Betrayals to our constitutional republic by presidents who begin wars without the authorization of Con-gress have led to a devastating history of unjustifiable wars costing millions of lives and untold misery, initiated by reckless, dishonest presidents, including the Mexican-American War (which was begun by President Polk before Congress declared war), the Viet Nam War, and the Iraq War. Those wars likely would have been avoided had Congress, after holding hearings and debates before the wars were begun, made the determination about whether to engage in war, as is its exclusive constitutional prerogative and responsibility.