Our motto at the Tenth Amendment Center is, “Follow the Constitution, every issue, every time, no exceptions, no excuses.”
The US launched yet another illegal war with no declaration by Congress. Many justify the president’s unilateral decision to bomb Syria, arguing, “It needs to be done,” or, “Every president since Roosevelt has done it.”
Exceptions and excuses.
The Constitution specifically delegates the power to send the U.S. into war to Congress – for good reason. When you ignore limits on federal power simply because they get in the way of achieving your policy preference, you shred the fiber of the entire Constitution. By ignoring constitutional war powers, you lose all standing when you insist that the federal government respect your gun rights, privacy rights, free speech rights, or any other constitutional provision.