Riding Saddleback

Alot more can be said about the Saddleback civic forum on the Presidency that occured Saturday with Senator's McCain and Obama.

What saddened me was the question to each about war. What is worth dying for and more to the issue for them, what is worth sending 18 year old Americans off to die for? While they each said, Freedom, National Security and National interests, to the applause of many, neither remarked that only CONGRESS can declare war. The Executive Branch does not have, should not have but increasingly does have is own Praetorian Guard.

Lets face it, any war worth fightng wouldn't have trouble passing through the people's representatives, The Legislative branch. Think World War II. That's the point. Vietnam, Korea, Kuwait, Iraq, Balkans are all wars MANY if not most Americans would not relinquish their offspring to fight for, not without a cultural upheaval and mass debate, which SHOULD happen if the vote to declare war is before us.

The War Powers Act among many things paved the way for Congress to be more of a stamp on military actions already engaged by the Executive.

The audience seemed content to know that The potential Emporers would wield the Legions only in "our" best interest. If you think my allusion to Rome is off the mark and flippant, take note of history that the declining Roman Empire relied more and more heavily on immigrants and conscripts from vassal states rather than Roman citizens. States like Georgia, Latvia and Poland form our Auxilia palatina. 21 States and maybe as many as 34 fight for the Executive branch of our Government.

Hail Caesar.