Tuesday, June 24, 2008

A Flaw in the System

Congress has the sole power to declare war as written in the US Constitution. This power in recent decades has been useless as the founder's did not foresee that the United States would ever have a standing army. It was the Congress who was to assemble the army which prevented the President from acting as Commander and Chief of the armed forces without out congressional approval. Because the United States has had a standing army since WWII, the president can basically send troops wherever he deems appropriate and order them to follow his commands. It is unnecessary for Congress to declare war when the president can order the armed forces regardless of their opinion.
I believe that this is a flaw that has emerged in the checks and balances system that the founders of our constitution came up with. To correct this I would like to see a change in the Presidents power to command the armed forces. While he should still be the commanding officer, Congress should have to approve sending of any amount of forces into another country. This can prevent the President from waging war on another country without the approval of Congress and the people of the United States.

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