Word on the Street: Congressional Bill Gives Obama Unlimited Warmaking Authority

It seems that certain politicians are drawing the wrong lessons from the killing of Osama Bin Laden. It seems that more and more, they are obsessed with the Middle East. But my question is, what about Middle America.

Tipped off by a Ron Paul website, we learned that certain members of Congress are preparing to sneak in a provision that gives President Barack Obama the authority to initiate unilateral military action whenever he chooses. Now we don't always agree with Ron Paul. But on this issue, he makes perfect sense -- this is a blatant disregard for the American Constitution and its requirement that Congress be the one to declare war.

Think about it -- if you're a Democrat, would you give former President George Bush or Sarah Palin or Dick Cheney this kind of blank check authority? If you're a Republican, would you give Hillary Clinton this kind of authority?

It was never the intent of the Founding Fathers to give our country that sort of authority -- they constantly warned against excessive foreign entanglements. Even the Taliban has declared good riddance to Bin Laden. Osama Bin Laden planned and implemented a war of aggression against the US, including the tragic 9/11 attacks. So now that he is dead, the question becomes, what are we doing in Afghanistan?

The rest needs to be up to the Afghan people. It is not our business to referee a civil war between various tribal factions. And it is not our business to get involved in civil wars anywhere around the globe. Suppose Obama uses his newfound powers responsibly. Fine. But what guarantee is there that the next President of either party won't misuse those blank check powers whenever he or she sees fit, without any kind of accountability from Congress whatsoever?

And the more that our government drains our treasury for fighting wars around the globe, the less money that we have for repairing our roads, adequately funding our schools, or developing our low income areas of this country. Warmaking needs to be a careful decision that should be deliberated by people who are in a position to understand the terrible human toll that wars create. Our Senators and Congressmen are in a much better position to understand the human consequences of war because they have to answer to the people every so often. The President is much more isolated from this. And besides, our system is a system of checks and balances -- to give one man the power to make unlimited wars around the globe upsets the system of checks and balances that our founders so carefully designed. For the sake of the Constitution and for the sake of funding our roads, schools, and children, our Congress needs to reject this insane proposition.