Tyranny without walls

Today was almost as informative as it was scary...and let me tell you it was very informative. Today we discussed the war powers clause. As we are all aware the power to declare war rests in the Congress. The government was designed this way, not because the men and women of Congress would be any less flawed as human beings, but because the passions that cause one to rush to war would be tempered by debate and reason. In fact the Congress has more power over foreign relations than the President, as far as the Constitution is concerned, because taking a country from peace to war requires a change in law. War power is inherently legislative in nature. Congress must authorize hostilities either by declaration or by a joint resolution then, and only then, does the power transfer to the President so that he may conduct the war as the Commander-in-Chief. It took less than one generation before these Congressional powers came under assault. In 1846, before the outbreak of hostilities in the Mexican-American War, James Polk attempted to force Congress into action. Polk ordered the deployment of troops into disputed territory, fully aware the Mexican Army would respond, so that he could go to Congress declaring that the Mexican Army had initiated hostilities. At the time our Congress was smart enough, and cared enough about our Constitution, that President Polk was censured. The censure was led by then Representative Abraham Lincoln. For all this Lincoln himself violated the war powers clause at the onset of the Civil War. He later humbled himself before Congress expressing regret for violating the Constitution and asking them to pass laws ex post factoto make his actions legal. This body is torn on their opinions of Lincoln, not surprising the opinions are divided between the north and the south...some things never change. The first President to take our country to war without the approval of Congress was Harry Truman in 1950 when he sent troops to Korea to fight against the spread of Communism. These actions Robert Taft and Richard Nixon strongly objected to...but later it seems Nixon changed his mind on the whole Constitution issue. The practice has carried on into our time and has only gotten worse. In 1998 Bill Clinton asked Congress to authorize bombings in Kosovo to end the genocide taking place. Congress denied his request. Undeterred Clinton went ahead and ordered the bombings anyway. The lesson? You can defy Congress...but don't lie about an affair. Most recently, Congress actually delegated their power to declare war to President Bush prior to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, in essence you go ahead and declare it whenever you are ready. The second part of the day we focused on the right to privacy. I would suggest picking up a copy of Shadow Government: How the Global Elite Plan to Destroy Democracy and Your Freedom a film by Grant R Jeffrey. It will be released in roughly ten days. It will shock you to see how surveilled we as a people truly are. Denial is pervasive in America. We believe that we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave yet we live in one of the most controlled and experimental societies on the planet. The tyranny that has been set up here is rather interesting because is it a tyranny without walls. As a country, and a collective consciousness, we are just beginning to become aware that something is not right. The system is corrupt. It does not work. Just because we can go about our daily lives without ever feeling the chains...does not mean they are not there. A brief take on Pastor Martin Niemoller's poem about the rise of Nazi Germany would go something like this First they came for banks, and I did not speak out...because I was not a banker;Then they came for the car manufacturers', and I did not speak out...because I was not in their union;Then they came for the media, and I did not speak out...because I was not a pundit;Then they came for me...and there was no one left to speak our for me."