SENATOR WEBB CHALLENGES OBAMA'S HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTIONISM

[Hippo_Tron]

4. The constitution doesn't say that the President requires a formal declaration of war to use force

And it's not as though undeclared war didn't exist in the 18th century. The problem is that they didn't envision a scenario where the President would be able to use force without congressional approval, because they didn't envision a permanent standing military. Congress' real power to control the use of force is the power of the purse. That power is greatly diminished when you have a giant army, navy, and air force already sitting around ready to deploy at a moment's notice. Furthermore it's a power that isn't realistic to exercise as a means of reigning in the executive because of political reasons.

It's not the only instance where something that was written into the constitution wasn't used as planned. The recess appointment was intended to allow the president to quickly fill vacancies in an age where travel was slow and the Senate was out of session for months at a time. Today it's used as a means to appoint people who are filibustered by the opposition (the filibuster was also something they didn't envision).

What we need is a constitutional amendment to restore war powers to congress. Because the fact of the matter is that legally they don't have them.