Declaration of War

  One thing Ron Paul is correct about is that we need to go back to Congress passing a Declaration of War when we do go to war.  
  President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the lasts American president that signed a Declaration of War!  That is in 1941. 

  The Korean War we had no choice.  We had troops in South Korea and North Korea attacked.  President Harry S Truman had to commit military forces to Korea. 
  At some point he should have gone to Congress for them to declare war.

  The Vietnam War we got sucked into it day by day.  The President of the United States should have the ability to send in training troops and some other limited forces to any area of the world that it is in our best interest.  But at some point there needs to be a point when he has to ask Congress to declare war.  I am not sure where that point should be but I am sure some very smart people do know.

  The Gulf War was a just war.  Iraq did an invasion of Kuwait.  The UN authorized the war and we were part of a coalition of 34 other nations.  But President Bush (the first one) should have had to ask Congress for a declaration of war.  Now I am not sure if he could have got it.  That is our system of government.  We have to live with it and get it.

The Afghanistan War was a just war.  We were attacked on 9/11.  The President Bush (II) was correct to send in forces to deal with the problem.  She should have asked for declaration of war and he would have got it from Congress and the American people with out any questions.

  The Iraq War was not a just war.  He was a lie.  President Bush and his gang should have been removed from office because of it and should have gone to jail for it.  It was a crime.
 
  Now the matter of Libya is one of confusion.  It is not war.  I think the President of the United States should have the ability to respond with force in a matter like Libya but it puts us right on the edge of the issue.

  Any time we declare war or go to war the American people should have to pay for it with taxes.  If we are not willing to pay for it with a war tax then we should not be going to war.  
  The American people did pay for WWII with taxes and bonds. 
 
  We also need to have at all times compulsory military service (the draft) in the United States.  If a American citizen can not go to into the military or war, for some reason, they need to do civilian public service, for two times the length of the military service.
  So if everyone has to give 2 years to military service and someone will not or can not serve in the military then they should have to do other service for 4 years.
  If you do not do your compulsory service then you should not be allowed to vote, hold public office, work for United States, work for any part of the military industrial complex etc.  You should not be allowed any sort of government benefits.  
 

  Right now I do not see any of the above taking place.  I think the American people do like the idea of Congress having to do a declaration of war.  But I do not see ANY interest in the American people paying taxes, ever, to pay for a war and I see NO interest in the draft.

Comments

[Argent009]

Sorry Jim, but this is laughable. If you can't serve you are forced to do some sort of other service for double the length of time? Riiight, sure, people can barely afford to put food on the table but now they have to be forced into a compulsory government job for most likely piss poor wages? And if you're severely disabled you HAVE to do something or you can't vote? Sounds like some kind of fascism to me dude. I guess if you're 70 like you are, you get a by on that deal because you're an old fart? Is that how it'd work? Nooo Jim, you should have to do some hard labor too for your country. :P What a bunch of hogwash. I already served, I put in 5 years and ya know what, one of my two Purple Hearts is thanks to those lovely Libyans everyone is so concerned about us bombing. NUKE those mother fuckers as far as I'm concerned. Kadaffi (that's how we spelled it then, it's how I'll spell it now, who the fuck knows or cares how the Asshole Formerly Known As Colonel spells his damned name?) is an evil piece of shit who should have been taken out over thirty years ago and I still don't understand why that piece of shit is still breathing. But this mandatory public service and full time draft idea of yours is just plain goofy. I'm really shocked to hear you suggest it. Have you been drinking? :)

[Jim Howard]

Well maybe I did not make it clear I am talking about young people. Make it part an extra 2 years of high school - the public service.
Of course if someone has a disability they do not have to serve and do not lose any rights.
It would sort of be like the CCC. It would give young people not only military skills that the nation might need but other skills.
Maybe the double time for those that do not serve in the military seems hard but if you do not have something like that you will have everyone not going for the military service.
As you and we all know we got a crazy system now of sending our guys into combat over and over again and many of them are reserve and National Guard and they are spending long times away from family.
We also have lowered the standards to get into the military in order to get troops.
We need to do something to look at fixing the problems.

[Argent009]

I think you've missed something here. Those soldiers over there now who are reserve and national guard volunteered to do that job. I respect and honor them for it and take nothing away from their sacrifice but they didn't enter into it without the knowledge that this could and in a lot of cases would happen. In the case of a draft, well then that's a whole other story. It hasn't happened very often in our nation's history and when it has, there was little to no opposition to the idea that we should be in the war. What you're suggesting here is a full time draft that all citizens, whether they wish to or not, will be required to serve under, whether in peace time or war. There are currently 25 countries in the world that have mandatory military service of one type or another, I would not wish to live in any of these countries. At one time in my life I felt it was the right thing to do, to serve my country. If you were to ask me today I'd say it's the right thing to do, to serve my family and friends and screw any and all countries. Putting my life on the line for a bunch of corrupt, evil criminals is not something I believe should be compulsory. I also don't believe it should be compulsory for anyone to be forced to work for something they feel is corrupt. What you're suggesting, by today's standards, is a requirement that everyone over 18 years of age who's fit to do so, should volunteer to work for Haliburton, Lockheed, McDonald-Douglas, Boeing, big oil companies, special interest groups, etc. To hell with that, man. Yeah, some of what we do in a military way is for the good, but an awful lot of it is to make money for assholes. I don't blame our soldiers for that though, most of them don't know it or believe it's the case. But you? I thought for sure you knew this. No way would I agree with this idea of yours. I'd find some way to get out of the country if that ever happened.

[Jim Howard]

You miss my major point.. Well maybe I did not even state it...
But I was thinking it was clear.
When the children of everyone have to serve in the military we will see fewer wars, police actions and other actions like President Bush taking us into Iraq.
Before we went into Iraq and said on the blog that we should not being into Iraq but if we were going into Iraq then we should send 300K and there should be a war tax and a draft. None of those things would have happened and the American would not have supported the military action.

I remember when the change was made to the military plans..I think it was called "ready reserve" or something like that and I do not think anyone had any idea it would turn out like this..
The idea was that we could save money and have a smaller standing Army because we could use Reserve or National Guard units on the rare events that we needed them for a short time. I do not think it was every in the thinking or plans that we would be using them all the time and sending them back into combat over and over again.

Again.. If we had a draft the nation would look different and act different. If all our kids were subject to the draft it would change our nation.

[Argent009]

The people with children who'd be forced to serve don't decide if we go to war, so I don't see how that's going to change anything. So long as people continue to support this ludicrous two party system we'll always be screwed. Republicans take us into wars, Democrats tax us out of house and home, it's an endless cycle of bullshit.