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On July 4th, 1776, a small band of patriots declared that we were a people created equal
-- free to think and worship and live as we please. It was a declaration heard around
the world -- that we were no longer colonists, we were Americans, and our destiny would not
be determined for us; it would be determined by us.
It was a bold and tremendously brave thing to do. It was also nearly unthinkable.
At that time, kings and princes and emperors ruled the world. But those patriots were
certain that a better way was possible. And this tyrant has robbed us of that better
way, structured in our U.S. Constitution. President Obama has taken it upon himself
the power of a king or emperor. Now, once again we stand poised at a precipice
— forced to the edge by an Administration which has thrown caution to the winds and
our Constitution to the ground. It is abundantly clear from a careful reading
of our Declaration of Independence that our nation was born from nothing less than the
rebellion of the human spirit against the arrogance of power.
More than 200 years ago it was the awareness of the unchecked arrogance of George III that
led our Founders to deliberately and carefully balance our constitution by articulating the
rights of Congress in Article I, as the primary check by our citizens against the dangers
they foresaw for our republic. Our constitution was derived from the human and political experience
of our Founders who were aware of what happens when one person took it upon himself to assume
rights and privileges which place them above their fellow citizens.
The power to declare war is firmly and explicitly vested in the Congress of the United States
under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. THAT is the Law.
Let us make no mistake about it, dropping 2000 lb bombs and unleashing the massive firepower
of our air force on the capital of a sovereign state is in fact an act of war and no amount
of legal acrobatics can make it otherwise.
It is the arrogance of power which the former Senator Fulbright, saw shrouded in the deceit
which carried us into the abyss of another war in Vietnam. My generation was determined
we would never again see another Vietnam. It was the awareness of the unchecked power
and arrogance of the executive which led Congress to pass the War Powers Act.
Congress, through the War Powers Act provided, the executive with an exception to unilaterally
respond only when the nation was in actual or imminent danger; to "repel sudden attacks."
Mr. Speaker, today we are in a constitutional crisis because our me have an administration
that has assumed for itself powers to wage war which are neither expressly defined nor
implicit in the Constitution, nor permitted under the War Powers Act.
A President has no right to wrest that fundamental power from Congress -- and we have no right
to cede it to him.
We, Members of Congress can no more absolve a president of his responsibility to obey
this profound constitutional mandate then can absolve ourselves of our failure to rise
to the instant challenge to our Constitution that is before us today.
We violate our sacred trust to the citizens of the United States and our oath to uphold
the constitution if we surrender this great responsibility and through our inaction acquiesce
in another terrible war.
We must courageously defend the oath we took to defend the Constitution of the United States
or we forfeit our right to participate in representative government.
James Madison, the father of the Constitution, warned us of all these forces that are in
conspiracy against the desire and duty of peace. He didn't say "let's just trust the
president." He was saying, you cannot trust the president with the power to make war.
He said the most important clause of our Constitution was the one that kept that power out of the
president's hands. "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."
And this arrogant tyrant, he's dropping bombs on people and killing innocent people in countries
where there's no declaration of war. This man is a tyrant and shouldn't remain in office.
And if we had representatives that cared about our Constitution, he would be impeached.
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