This Letter to the Editor appeared in The Times-News in Burlington, North Carolina, October 15, 2017.
If the writers of the Constitution were alive today, they might well ask: Where’s Congress? They gave our representatives and senators the power to decide about going to war as a check on presidents. Congress has not declared war since 1941 though we have become an empire waging endless wars by other names.
“And where are the citizens?” might be their next question since we keep in office those who ignore this duty and don’t push for diplomacy. We could start being active citizens by pressing U.S. representatives Mark Walker or David Price and Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis for answers to some questions:
Will you support HR 669/SB 200 Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act so that no president has dictatorial powers to start a nuclear war without Congressional approval? A nuclear first strike is certainly going to war.
Will you repeal the Authorization of the Use of Military Force [AUMF] which has been used to justify 37 attacks on 14 countries since 2001? Senators Burr and Tillis voted against the repeal.
Will you speak out against President Trump’s threats and urge working out a compromise with North Korea?
Will you co-sponsor bipartisan HCR 81 to end U.S. support never authorized by Congress of the Saudi attack on Yemen. The war has put more than 20 million Yemeni at risk from famine and the worst cholera outbreak ever recorded.
Positive answers to these questions could restore checks and balances and make both America and the world more secure. It could also mean more of our tax money and troops could go into rebuilding, rather than destroying.
Anne Cassebaum
Elon