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.
Hilarious Com-Box Quote of The Day: "I was caught immediately because it is the Acts of the Apostles, not the Acts of the Holy Spirit Acting Erratically."--Donald Todd, reacting to the inartful opposition of the Holy Spirit and the Magisterium. Mark Galli, an editor at Christianity Today, had suggested that today's "confusion" in evangelicalism replicates a confusion on the day of Pentecost. Mr. Todd commented after this reply , and the original article is here. My thoughts: By what means was this Church-less "consensus" formed? If the Council did not possess the authority to adjudicate such questions, who does? If the Council Fathers did not intend to be the arbiters, why do they say that they do? At the risk of being rude, I would define evangelicalism as, "Whatever I want or need to believe at any particular time." Ecclesial authority to settle a particular question is a step forward, but only as long as, "God alone is Lord of the con...
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