Is perpetual war about to become law of the land? The House Armed Services Committee recently passed the National Defense Authorization Act - a bill that authorized funding to the Department of Defense. And deep within the bill - in Section 1034 - there's a provision that affirms we are at war with Al-Qaeda and hands over war powers to the President until "the termination of hostilities." In other words - it lets the President commit our nation to endless war until every single terrorist is dead.
The ACLU calls the provision the, "single biggest hand-over of unchecked war authority from Congress to the executive branch in modern American history." The provision was slipped in by Republican Congressman Buck McKeon - and only one member of the Armed Services Committee voted against the bill - Democrat John Garamendi. Garamendi offer an amendment to strike Section 1034 - but it was shot down - paving the way for endless war - and endless profits for defense contractors - who throw around huge campaign contributions. In Orwell's book 1984 - Big Brother famously said, "War is Peace." And George W. Bush took this to heart when he started the War on Terror. But the truth is - there's nothing worse for a nation than endless war.
As James Madison - one of the founders of our nation wrote, "No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst of perpetual war."
-Thom
(Is America in a perpetual state of war? Tell us here.)
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