To protect and defend the Constitution

      All elected officials, at inauguration, place their hand on the Bible and swear an oath to "protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."  But for a good part of the last century, Congress and the President have routinely disregarded that oath.

      I am, of course, referring to Article I, Section 8, Line 11 of this noble document, which reads:  "[the Congress shall have power] To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water".

     To emphasize:  CONGRESS has the power to declare war, NOT the President. 

     Both sides share the blame for not defending the document that they all swore to uphold.  The President is at fault for over-extending his rather limited authority and committing US troops to fighting battles all over the globe.  And Congress is at fault for being spineless wimps and not standing up to defend their Constitutional authority.

      This has all come to light recently as President Trump and his Republican buddies in the Senate are contemplating sending troops to Venezuela.  Oh, and also Iran.  The Republican philosophy goes something like this:  We will commit US troops and US taxpayer dollars anywhere on the planet we feel like it.  And we feel like committing more.  Taxpayer money and live troops are infinitely expendable.  You never know; Venezuela might attack and conquer us!

      Trump came into office on his "Make America Great Again" pledge.  This originally meant that he had a cynical eye towards all these military adventures and alliances all over the planet, realizing correctly that trying to defend the entire planet does not a great nation make.  But that didn't last long, once he got into office, and started using Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh as foreign policy advisors.  Now he is only too eager to unsheathe his pen and commit us all to still more foreign entanglements.

Rand Paul

      The only Senators who have noticed and spoken up on this Constitutional assault are Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and Todd Young (R-Indiana).  Rand's father Ron Paul (R-Texas) spent many decades in the House of Representatives fighting nonstop to end (among other things) the US's arrogant, unjustified, and unconstitutional foreign policy.

      I am no Constitution-worshipper.  When they slipped that "general welfare" clause into the Preamble, that pretty much sealed the nation's fate for out-of-control government growth at some future date.  After all, ANYTHING can be decreed as "promoting the general welfare".   (For a truly anti-government document, read the Declaration of Independence.)  But despite its flaws, the Constitution is all we got.  If the goal is to abolish Congress and simply have an Imperial Presidency, well, the Constitution provides an amendment process.  We've been heading down that road for many decades now - might as well make it official.

     America became a great and powerful nation because of our culture of limited government - NOT because we have a super gung-ho military that loves to go fight wars!  The purpose of the military should be to defend Americans ON American soil.  Period.  George Washington, the greatest patriot who ever lived, urged "peace and honest commerce with all nations, entangling alliances with none."  Good advice then, good advice now.