Have You Heard the One About the Constitution?

The old joke behind the Iron Curtain before the Soviet Union fell apart was: They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work. The American version is: US citizens pretend the Constitution is valid, and Congress pretends to follow it.

In grade school, we're told we are a nation under the rule of law and, as the supreme law of the land, the US Constitution protects the rights of the states and our rights as individuals.

Outside of the classroom, we might be aware as each branch of government continually erodes our Constitutionally-protected freedoms. Recent examples are:

• the Supreme Court Kelo decision,
• Congressional lapses such as the Patriot Act and the various bailouts in vogue,
• sundry Executive intrusions big and small including denial of habeas corpus in the US and at the Guantanamo detention camp, and the 1997 Gore telephone tax.

These get short-lived media play and US citizens gradually forget about them as Big Brother, aka the federal government, grows in power.

The "Constitutional issues" that hold the attention of the media and the public are "safe" issues, mainly R and D bickering. The bickering leads some to think the Constitution is more of a nuisance, something to be gotten around, and not a document that defines and intentionally constrains the federal government.

The most recent noise about Hilary Clinton's (D) qualification for a cabinet office is the latest of the "safe" Constitutional issues that excite the two dominant parties written about nowhere in the Constitution, as they squabble about who is king of the hill for the day.

Recent examples of the "safe" use of the Constitution by one party to harass the other:

• Obama (D) is not a legitimate candidate for President per Article II Section 1 of the Constitution (Arnold is watching this carefully).
• Clinton (D) impeached per Article I Sections 2 and 3 of the Constitution, but not convicted for lying about semi-consummated sexual relations with a federal employee.
• Clarence Thomas (R) confirmed after nomination hearings per Article II Section 2 of the Constitution, where newly nominated Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano (D) (more change you can believe in), was attorney for Anita Hill (D), who opposed Thomas as a potential sexual harasser. One memorable example Hill gave was his mention of a pubic hair in his Coke (not the real thing).

One Constitutional issue that politicians won't consider, because it truly limits the power of government and their power, is the exclusive Congressional power to declare war. Both parties benefit from the increase of government power and do nothing to jeopardize that power. If Bush aggrandizes the executive office, then Obama can use it when it's his turn.

Consider the recent history of the lack of adherence to Article I Section 8 and the power of Congress "To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water":

• Truman (D), citing UN authority, in 1950 sends troops to the Korean war, fighting the communist North without a declaration of war by Congress. US troops are still in South Korea 58 years later.
• Eisenhauer (R) sends 14,000 troops to Lebanon in 1958 to "fight communism" without a declaration of war.
• Kennedy (D) sends 16,000 troops to Vietnam in 1961 continuing Eisenhauer's policy of "fighting communism" without a declaration of war.
• Kennedy (D) sends 1500 US-trained Cuban exiles in the Bay of Pigs fiasco that led to the Cuban missile crisis. There was no declaration of war, but there almost was a nuclear war.
• Johnson (D), after US-caused Tonkin Gulf incident, uses Gulf of Tonkin resolution to send troops to Vietnam in 1964. US leaves after eleven years and after hundreds of thousands killed. The Gulf of Tonkin resolution was not a declaration of war. (For those thinking Congress can vote for funding without declaring war, refer to US Constitution Article V.)
• Nixon (R) expands the Vietnam war into Laos and Cambodia--still no declaration of war. Vietnam war continues until 1973.
• Carter (D) funds mujahadeen for terrorist activities in Afghanistan against Soviet Union in 1979. During his administration, as in that of his successors and predecessors, US troops remain in Korea.
• Reagan (R) sends troops to Lebanon in 1982-84. More than 240 killed.
• Reagan (R) sends troops to invade Grenada in 1983 without a declaration of war.
• Reagan (R) sends 2000 troops to Panama without a declaration of war.
• GHW Bush (R) sends 24,000 troops to Panama to remove former ally Manuel Noriega from power without a Congressional declaration of war.
• GHW Bush (R) organizes UN-authorized but not Congressionally-declared Gulf War of 1990-91. The US moved troops into the Middle East using the Rapid Deployment Force created during the Carter administration.
• GHW Bush (R) sends troops to Somalia in 1992 to help distribute food for the United Nations.
• Clinton (D) changes the mission in Somalia, and in 1993 has US troops support the UN in nation-building. After the battle of Mogadishu and the deaths of eighteen US soldiers, all US troops were withdrawn. All without a Congressional declaration of war.
• Clinton (D) continued the embargo considered to have resulted in half a million Iraqi deaths and the bombing of Iraq in the "no fly zone" for eight years.
• Clinton (D) authorized the 1995 bombing of Bosnia with no declaration of war.
• GW Bush (R) invaded Afghanistan in 2001. There was no Congressional declaration of war. The war continues seven years later.
• GW Bush (R) invaded Iraq in 2003 to remove former ally Saddam Hussein from power. There was no Congressional declaration of war. The war continues five years later.
• President-elect Obama (D) wants to increase troop levels in Afghanistan. He says he wants to eventually withdraw from Iraq. He has also been mentioning Darfur. More change you can believe in?

Have you heard the one about the Constitution? It's supposed to be the supreme law of the land.