[Peace] To End the Wars, Visualize War Powers in a Post-Pelosi World

[Robert Naiman]

To End the Wars, Visualize War Powers in a Post-Pelosi World

The open breach in the Democratic Party between the AOC/Justice
Democrats-led coalition and the Pelosi/Dem Megadonor-led coalition over the
“too close to call” Markey-Kennedy Senate race in Massachusetts this week
opens up a new vista of human freedom: the ability to visualize a
post-Pelosi, post-Dem Establishment Megadonor world in the Democratic
Party. I call this a “post-Pelosi world” as a shorthand, acknowledging that
the key obstacle to reform is not merely an individual human being, but the
domination of the Democratic Party by the Dem Establishment Megadonor
coalition led by Pelosi.

To end the wars, we need to live in a post-Pelosi world. We need to live in
a world where Pelosi is not dominating the House Democratic Caucus by
trickling down Megadonor campaign cash like Mayor Daley the First
controlled the Chicago Democratic Machine.

If we want to live in that world, we need to start by visualizing it.

To end the wars, we need to restore Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the
United States Constitution - the War Powers Clause - which assigns the
decision to go to war to Congress, not the President. If the last two
decades of war have taught us anything, it’s that leaving this power in the
hands of the President and his royal court of Megadonor-genuflecting Blob
advisors is a guarantee of more war. Exactly as the authors of the
Constitution foresaw. Which is exactly why they assigned this power to
Congress, not the President.

To restore Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the United States
Constitution, we need to restore Section 2(c) and Section 5(c) of the War
Powers Resolution of 1973. Section 2(c) is a restatement of Article I,
Section 8, Clause 11 in the language of 1973. Section 5(c) is Thor’s Hammer
for enforcing Section 2(c). It states that notwithstanding anything else,
at any time that U.S. forces are involved in hostilities that Congress
hasn’t authorized, the President shall remove U.S. forces from those
hostilities if Congress so directs by concurrent resolution.

A “concurrent” resolution is a resolution passed by both houses of Congress
without being submitted to the President for signature. Because it’s not
submitted to the President for signature, the President can’t veto it. As
outgoing House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel stated on the
House floor in January, the idea of this mechanism is 100% consistent with
the fundamental idea of Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution
and with the fundamental idea of Section 2(c) of the War Powers Resolution
of 1973 which restates Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution:
this war-deciding power belongs to Congress, not the President. Without the
mechanism of Section 5(c), the War Powers Resolution of 1973 would be
eviscerated and Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution would
be eviscerated.

In order to restore Section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution of 1973, we
need to live in a post-Pelosi world. As long as Pelosi is controlling the
House Democratic Caucus like Mayor Daley on behalf of the Dem Megadonor
coalition, Section 5(c) will be eviscerated, and with it the War Powers
Resolution of 1973, and with it Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the U.S.
Constitution.

The key reason that we need to live in a post-Pelosi world to restore
Section 5(c) is that a key idea of the Section 5(c) concurrent War Powers
Resolution is that it’s a “privileged” resolution. It concerns the
Constitutional privileges of the House, like impeachment, so it has a
priority status for floor consideration, like Priority Mail. It must go to
the floor for a vote if the sponsor insists. It cannot be killed by
inaction of the Foreign Affairs Committee. But if all the members of the
House Democratic Caucus are cowering before the Democratic Speaker like
frightened children, waiting for permission to speak, then the Section 5(c)
mechanism doesn’t work. The key idea of a “privileged” resolution is the
ability to get to the floor for a vote without having to get permission
from the Speaker before you introduce your bill.

There are many paths to curbing the power of Pelosi to dominate the House
Democratic Caucus like Mayor Daley. A simple idea unites them all: weaken
and delegitimize Pelosi as a leader of the Democratic Party. Every time
Pelosi is defeated by the AOC/Justice Democrats-led coalition, Pelosi is
weakened and delegitimized as a leader of the Democratic Party.

This is also on the ballot in Massachusetts this week: a referendum on
weakening and delegitimizing Pelosi as a leader of the Democratic Party.
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