By: Matt McBride
American children, if they have teachers who teach the real Constitution and not government propaganda, grow up learning that congressional approval is necessary for the United States to declare war and to appropriate funds to wage war. But, as a “distinguished” Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee once told Rep. Ron Paul, this has become all but irrelevant as presidents, both Democrat and Republican, have taken military action without congressional authorization over the past fifty years. The last war that Congress actually declared was World War II, meaning that every instance of military action since the late 1940s—Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Iraq (twice), Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Libya—occurred without the go-ahead from Congress.
On Monday, Rep. Peter King (NY-02) said that he does not agree with those who believe the President needs congressional authorization to pursue military action against Syria.
“I just wished he’d done it two years ago when lesser measures might have changed the course of events,” he said of Obama.
On the other side of the argument sits Rep. Justin Amash (MI-03), who took to Twitter this morning, arguing that such an attack was “unquestionably unconstitutional.”
“If Speaker Boehner believes President Obama intends to use force in Syria, then I urge him to call the House back into session to debate and vote,” said Amash.
It seems as if the mainstream media salivates anytime there is the slightest hint of competing views within the GOP, most recently by the war of words between Governor Chris Christie and Senator Rand Paul. The differing opinions concerning congressional approval from King and Amash exemplify the broader argument that Paul and Christie brought national attention to: both war hawks and noninterventionists exist within the GOP, and this debate undoubtedly will continue. Campaign for Liberty will always side with those, such as Rand Paul and Justin Amash, who oppose allowing the President to unilaterally take the nation to war in violation of the United States Constitution.
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PDFTags: Syria, GOP, Amash, King, Congressional Approval, Paul, Christie