tp151.xml

tp151.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-03-03

"Toward a more perfect union",

"The things that we have learned about our Republic have been frightening for
me since the terrorist attacks.

I keep reading that President Bush has not yet formed an opinion about the
coming military struggle to overthrow Saddam Hussein in Iraq. I think that
President Bush's opinion on the subject is important, but it is nothing more
than that, an opinion. I have an opinion, as well, and so do all one
hundred members of the Senate. Out of all of these opininons, the only ones
that truly matter are those of the Senate. The Constitution mandates that
the only way the United States can go to war is with the permission of
two-thirds of the Senate voting to do so. If the President were to start a
war on only his say-so, it would be a violation of the Constitution that he
has sworn to protect. The only way that we can have a ""Regime Change"" in
Iraq without a declaration of war is if it would not require military action
to do so. It really doesn't even matter if the Congress wants to vote on
this or not, it is required by the Constitution. The only way that they can
get out of their duty to send the nation to war is to amend the Constitution
to allow the President to ""go it alone."" Whether we all think war in Iraq
is prudent or not, we all must write or call our Senators and express our
alarm at the disregard for one of the most basic protections in our most
ingenious Constitution. To allow one man out of 260 million to send this
country to war is the beginning of the path to an elective monarchy.