Home of Today's Common Sense

Published Brownsville Herald 1/8/2008
 During the recent days, I have been following the political debates, and primaries as well as the media news about the issues. After viewing the same story on three different channels, it became increasingly clear that no one tells the whole truth without embellishing or adding opinion as though it were part of the report.
This has contributed to a Nation that is so passionately polarized that the “folks” are formed into partisan groups sometimes based on information they “heard” from friends, on the “Comedy Channel” or from the many slanted reports from the media outlets committed to a particular view. This is further aggravated by government officers issuing less than straight forward information and others ineptly presenting complex information in an overly simple manner with a demeanor that would lead one to believe it to be inaccurate. Lastly, the government in its paranoia, sometimes well founded, intentionally misinforms or avoids clarifying the issues.
The bottom line is that one must search diligently to get the straight story; most don’t.
The most important issue of our time is WAR!
Libertarians take the issue so seriously that the primary requirement for party membership is that one commit not to support war for political or economic reasons; but how can you make a rational decision if you cannot determine the real reasons for the war. Worse yet; because there is neither a request for, nor a declaration of War, Congress has abrogated its responsibilities for its most important duty – the oversight in initiating military action. Since they don’t vote for or against it but only for funding “to support the troops” no one in Congress is responsible.
Currently, “The War Powers Act of 1973” passed by Congress over the veto of then President Nixon guarantees no accountability for the decisions that can have such a horrendous impact on us folks.
The Act requires the President only to report to Congress any introduction of U.S. forces into hostilities or imminent hostilities and when submitted, requires that the use of forces must be terminated within 60 to 90 days unless Congress authorizes such use or extends the time period. It also mandates that the “President in every possible instance shall consult with Congress before introducing” U.S. Armed Forces into hostilities or imminent hostilities. After that so long as Congress keeps authorizing money the war keeps on. Congress can keep providing the funding “for the troops” and avoid any responsibility the decision.
The problem is further aggravated because that once begun, the war takes on a life of its own and is nearly impossible to just stop without serious consequences.
The situation began in Korea when President Truman began a military adventure, without a declaration of war, to stop communist scourge there; we are still there!
Then President Eisenhower, seeing a potential threat, sent a few “advisors” to Vietnam, President Kennedy sent a few more and President Johnson brought us a full scale war based on a questionable gunboat incident.
The popular protests of the time caused the president to refuse to run for a second term, and created a sickness and polarization in our country that continues to fester today. All this without a declaration of War.
President Nixon, rather ingloriously extricated us from the venture leaving behind a world reputation as a “paper tiger” that seems to precipitate a lack of confidence in our allies but worse, a lack of confidence among the “folks” in their leaders.
This lack of confidence was further aggravated when Congress, in a rush to avoid responsibility for and wars in the future by passing the War Powers Act over President Nixon’s veto. Now the mantra is “ I didn’t  vote for the war I just support the troops!”
The current adventure is frequently blamed on poor intelligence possibly brought on by the “Carter Era” intelligence policies resulting from purported intelligence community excesses during and just after Vietnam.
We just seem to be getting sicker going from one venture to another. All this without the Congressional oversight provided in the Congress.
Since we have seen it is unlikely that “regular folks” will ever hear the “whole story” a system must be in place to put enough pressure on those who make the decisions to improve the chance that the war will be just to improve the lot of the right bunch of “rulers”.
As we consider who will lead us  in the next four years it is crucial that any effective defense plan include the return to the Congressional oversights  provided by our forefathers where all Congresspersons must vote in approval of any military adventure upon receiving a detailed request from the President. This should also be a priority for the Peace Activists as well as us “folks”.
The alternative to that is to continue the facility to make war with or without letting “We the people” understand why we are sick.

1. Kurgan says:

   January 14, 2008 at 4:46 pm

   Fred,

   Although the media doesn’t have as firm a grasp on the news that they once held, they are certainly able to move public perception one way or another.

   They were convinvced that the surge in Iraq would not work and even publicized that the General in charge of esecuting the plan would go vbefore congress and lie about the results.

   When that did not happen, they fail to take parts of the establishment to task for calling him a liar (IE: willful suspension of disbelief).

   You are correct. The economy surpassing Iraq and the war on terrorism is a sad, sad joke. The only thing wrong with our economy is that people are willing to supress it to score political points.

   Kurgan

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