Sherry Chandler » Madison on war and the executive
Madison on war and the executive
Madison wrote:
“In no part of the Constitution is more wisdom to be found than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department. … War is in fact the true nurse of executive aggrandizement. In war, a physical force is to be created; and it is the executive will which is to direct it. In war, the public treasures are to be unlocked; and it is the executive hand which is to dispense them. … It is in war, finally, that laurels are to be gathered, and it is the executive brow they are to encircle. The strongest passions and most dangerous weaknesses of the human breast; ambition, avarice, vanity, the honorable or venial love of fame, are all in conspiracy against the desire and duty of peace.”
Quoted by Anthony Lewis in his NYTimes Sunday Book Review essay on The Imperial Presidency
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2 Comments
1. charlie w replies at 5th November 2007, 1:44 pm :
President Bush likes to declare that America is at war, and that he is a wartime president. Huh? He sometimes compares his war with past wars and probably sees himself as one of great leaders of the past.
This is not America’s war, it Bush’s war. But in the larger arena, who is he at war with? Is it a gaggle of rag-tag thugs who don’t even have a country, or any of the infrastructure and institutions thereof? It is beyond any reason that we have not destroyed this “enemy” after five years and all the billions spent to do just that.
Who is the enemy in Iraq? Is it the Shia, the Sunni, the Kurds, or all of them? They are all trying to kill our soldiers. What do we expect to gain by fighting them, and encouraging them to fight each other? We say we don’t want their land, or to rule over them. Yes, we want and need oil, but say we are willing to pay for it.
Bush’s fear-mongering has fooled America into thinking that another 9-11 is imminent. But it hasn’t happened yet so he says, “look, I’m keeping you safe.”
America finally awoke from it’s fear-induced slumber about a year ago.
America may be at war with Bin Laden and radical Islam abroad, but here at home America is at war with George Bush and radical conservatism.
2. sherry replies at 5th November 2007, 3:07 pm :
Amen, Charlie, and they’ve used this pseudo-war to steal unprecedented powers for the executive branch.
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