Quote:
Originally posted by dhamsaic
My contention is going to be that the Declaration of War is an outdated idea that is no longer practical and, therefore, will not be called in the future (unless it's a really <b>big</b> war).
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I agree with this to a point.
At the same time, IMO, one of the cornerstones of our government is the separation of power among the 3 branches. Griff touched on this in an earlier post. He mentioned Teddy Roosevelt, and I would throw in LBJ. I think it's important to keep that separation of power, to keep all parties in check. As I understand it, the
War Powers Act is meant to further keep the President in check, to avoid another Vietnam. (Though I don't know enough background to say how well this has worked in situations like Grenada, Persian Gulf, etc.)
Jules Witcover of the Baltimore Sun wrote an interesting op-ed
piece in May, regarding the War Powers Act and a possible attack on Iraq.