OOOH, look everyone, dueling pieces on the Libyan War! This reminds me of the paper I wrote on the Iraq War. Bush almost lost the presidency over that, and it was only 1+ years on when he faced re-election (and it got way worse). My take: Even if Congress is ceding their war-making authority to the executive, it doesn't make it constitutional, correct, or prudent. The case law Goldsmith cites relies heavily on accepted tradition. [Kinda Catholic, eh?--ed.] But in this case, wrong. We really need to take the electoral motive mostly out of war decisions for Congress. They're acquiescing to the president for 50 years because they (correctly) think that the blame for a bad war will go to him. I've written about this before: "The Electoral Biases Against Foreign Policy Expertise In Congress." ("Uncle Bryan," feel free to send that back over, so I don't lose it forever.) Repeal the 17th Amendment! Restore the Senate to its intended function! For the word "Expertise" you could sub in "Statesmanship." Congress isn't any more spineless than when it started; we're just the morons who reward them structurally for doing the opposite of what we need them to do.
Update: I read the whole thing. I’m sorry, but what a weirdo. I thought you [Tom Darrow, of Denver, CO] made a trenchant case for why lockdowns are bad, and I definitely appreciated it. But a graduation speech is *not* the place for that. Secondly, this is an august event. It always is. I would never address the President of the United States in this manner. Never. Even the previous president, though he deserves it, if anyone does. Thirdly, the affirmations of Catholic identity should be more general. He has no authority to propound with specificity on all matters of great consequence. It has all the hallmarks of a culture war broadside, and again, a layman shouldn’t speak like this. The respect and reverence due the clergy is *always due,* even if they are weak, and outright wrong. We just don’t brush them aside like corrupt Mafia dons, to make a point. Fourthly, I don’t know where anyone gets the idea that the TLM is how God demands to be worshipped. The Church doesn’t teach that. ...
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