The War Powers Act Reality Check

The War Powers Resolution, generally known as the War Powers Act, was passed by Congress in 1973 over President Nixon's veto to increase congressional control over the executive branch in foreign policy matters, specifically in regard to military actions short of formally declared war. Its central provision expressly prohibits the President from engaging in military actions for more than sixty days, unless Congress votes approval. The politicians at the time believed that this legislation would deny future presidents from entangling the United States in a situation that would mirror Americas’ involvement in the Vietnam War. The debate over this piece of legislation reignites every time the United States military is deployed and politicians seek to deflect their true responsibilities and ignore the essential issue relative to what should be at the fundamental heart of the debate:

What exactly is the purpose of the United States military?

What specific role does America see for its men and women in uniform in the 21^st century?

Historically, the military of a country was utilized by the sitting governement for conquest over an enemy, to plunder and pillage the wealth of the vanquished. If an emperor, king, or whoever, controlled the military, then by default it secured them their hold on the political power of that country.

There can be no debate that the Unites States military is the greatest fighting contingent ever assembled; this is not jingoistic blather. It is fact, by whatever criteria are applied.

The history of the US military, however, is that it has always been a defensive force that has responded only when the nation has first been attacked. The various forces of the military have been employed in cases of natural disasters both here and abroad in clearly defined missions. The mere threat of employing the United States military has always been enough to force aggressor countries to compliance of United Nations mandates. In such instances, the United States has always been part of a contingent of countries and has never acted in a unilateral offensive manner: to do so would be anathema to the people of America and to very essence of a free, democratic and self-governing nation.

But it has now become far too commonplace to manipulate the military for uses that do not meet the requirement of using our men and women of the armed forces in a purely defensive manner. The military has become a plaything for politicians looking to try social engineering and community experimentation once their attempts to do so by legislative fiat in society at large have been met with public resistance and outright elective defeat. There are those in government who believe that the military may be used to correct human suffering in far away lands. A noble cause to be sure, but issues that should be relegated to an entity such as the aforementioned United Nations. The United States cannot relieve suffering throughout the world; to attempt to do so by deploying the military is foolhardy at best.

Diluting the responsibility of the armed forces will inevitably lead to its being used and seen by our enemies as a tool of an aggressive political entity. and not as the defensive fighting unit it needs to be if America is to remain free and the beacon of freedom to the rest of the world.