War Powers
War Presidents to the Left; War Presidents to the Right.
Who was the last American Presidential candidate to campaign on a pro-war platform? No major party candidate, in my lifetime, explicitly campaigned to lead the military into an offensive war. Interventionists from the left and right always argue that the wars of the...
Jefferson and the Barbary Pirates
Famously, President Thomas Jefferson’s first inaugural address articulated his philosophical manifesto: “Peace, commerce, and friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none.” These basic maxims were stressed repeatedly by Jefferson, who cherished a...
The Un-American Empire
I recently saw a statement that said “900 (military) bases in 153 countries is not fighting for your freedom. It is an empire.” While most Americans wouldn’t think of the United States as such, the evidence is hard to dispute. In 2012, the U.S. spent $646 billion on...
What the Constitution Means by Declare War
In the heated constitutional debate over who has the power to wage war, one question rarely gets asked: what did the Founding Fathers have to say about it? This question goes largely ignored because the answer would bring the debate to a screeching halt. Although...