Saturday, October 12, 2002
Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever
he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you
allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he
deems it necessary for such purpose and you allow him
to make war at pleasure.... If, today, he should choose to
say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada, to prevent the
British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may
say to him, 'I see no probability of the British invading us'
but he will say to you 'be silent; I see it, if you don't.' "The
provision of the Constitution giving the war-making power
to Congress, was dictated, as I understand it, by the
following reasons. Kings had always been involving and
impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally,
if not always, that the good of the people was the object.
This, our Convention understood to be the most oppressive
of all Kingly oppressions; and they resolved to so frame the
Constitution that no one man should hold the power of
bringing this oppression upon us. But your view destroys the
whole matter, and places our President where kings have
always stood."
-- Representative Abraham Lincoln, in a letter to his long-time law partner William H. Herndon, denouncing the trickery of President Polk in provoking the Mexican War of 1848.
Some Ex Presidents sit on their ass and give million dollar speeched to the Japanese, and some win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Michael Kinsley has been on fire. In his latest column he rips Bush on Iraq. Best part:
The Bush campaign for war against Iraq has been insulting to American citizens, not just because it has been dishonest, but because it has been unserious. A lie is insulting; an obvious lie is doubly insulting. Arguments that stumble into each other like drunks are not serious. Washington is abuzz with the "real reason" this or that subgroup of the administration wants this war. A serious and respectful effort to rally the citizenry would offer the real reasons, would base the conclusion on the evidence rather than vice versa, would admit to the ambiguities and uncertainties, would be frank about the potential cost.
Wednesday, October 09, 2002
