Scott R. Sullivan

March 28th, 2007 by Scott

Our Constitution is the foundation of our country’s existence. The powers of our government were broken up into three branches, the Executive, Judicial and Legislative. The famous “checks and balances” comes from the ability for each branch to keep an eye on the other.

It was not designed to implant the entire Senate and House into the leather chair behind the desk of the Oval Office.

The military is designed, by necessity, to be run as a direct chain from the top. This prevented endless debate in conference rooms attempting to decide which method of attack on the enemy might be better for the environment or the spotted frog. It prevented endless debate on micromanagement that is so common in every larger private corporation today. If you want to make sure nothing happens, bring it up at a board meeting and let it be killed by the bureaucracy.

Instead, when a commanding officer gives an order, it is followed, not debated. Wars cannot be won if they are micromanaged.

At the top of the chain is one of the three branches of the government. I’ll let you guess which one is the Command in Chief. It’s not the mass of politicians at Capitol Hill and it’s not the lawyers at the Supreme Court. The Commander in Chief is the President.

His duties and powers in this regard? In 1850, Chief Justice Taney (in Fleming v. Page, 50 U.S. (9 How.) 603, 615, 618 (1850)), said the following:

His duty and his power are purely military. As commander-in- chief, he is authorized to direct the movements of the naval and military forces placed by law at his command, and to employ them in the manner he may deem most effectual to harass and conquer and subdue the enemy. He may invade the hostile country, and subject it to the sovereignty and authority of the United States.

This authority was given to him by the Senate (77-23) on October 11, 2002, and the Congress (296-133) hours earlier. Back then, the idea of going to war was popular.

Fast forward a few years. The number of soldiers killed in Iraq is broadcast daily by those on the left like a billboard for the Daily Lotto. Support for the war is no longer “popular.” And those politicians who feel they must pander to the daily whims of an American culture feel that if the war isn’t popular, they must come out swinging against the war.

And this is exactly what we have been seeing. The left, funded greatly by the anti-war lobby, feels they must now publicly denounce and undermine the war.

If the military does poorly, if the terrorists gain the upper hand, if more soldiers die, then the left gains support.

How sad, that anyone in America would end up in a position where losing a war, and having more Americans die, will help them and bring them back to power. How said that they have positioned themselves such that the only way they can win is by America losing.

Which brings up the question: on who’s side is the left? It seems they are rallied by the terrorists winning and us losing.

With this as a backdrop, consider the recent votes in the House and Senate. The Democrats yesterday voted to micromanage the war. The Democrats on Capitol Hill in their stretch limos feel they know better than the commanders on the ground in Iraq. The Democrats feel they know better.

Let’s not forget that the Democratics voted for the war before they voted against it. Is this how you win a war against an ideology that would attack us again if they could. Is this how you win a war that was brought to our feet on September 11, 2001?

The Democrats want us to lose by cutting and running. The bill that the Democratics voted for calls for the withdraw of our troops by March (the Senate date for cutting and running) or September (the House’s date) of next year. So all the terrorists have to do now is wait 12 months and they can have Iraq.

If the Democrats really wanted us out of Iraq, they could do it today. All they have to do is not pass any budget. The well would dry up and we’d have no money and no choice, but to pull out this year.

But then there would be no political issue for next year’s election. No, the Dems know they must keep the troops over there until the elections.

So do they really care about our troops lives or do they just care about winning an election.

We cannot allow the Left to micromanage the war. They know we’ll lose if you fight a war in the committee room. They feel they should be in the Oval Office running this war, not the President.

Let’s remember this embarrassing move by the Democratics next November.

Fighting an ideological war isn’t about doing what’s popular. It’s about doing what’s right.