Below the fold is a draft sign-on letter for current and former military personnel calling for Congress to enforce that quaint document, the Constitution.
Twice before I've proposed something similar. The first version was only for officers and was addressed to SCOTUS as welll as Congress. There was also a second version with the text on the dKosopedia.
I see the sign-on letter as being important to forcing Congress and the media to discuss the Bush administration's conduct in terms of compliance with the Constitution and non-compliance with the Constitution.
Draft text:
We, the undersigned, are military personnel or former military personnel that have taken the oath "to support and defend the Constitution" at some point in our lives.
The Constitution does not include an exception that empowers the Commander-in-Chief to go beyond the limits set by Congress and the courts in time of war. The Founding Fathers knew war. The Constitution anticipates that our country might go to war. But the checks and balances written into the Constitution still apply.
We are concerned about the actions of President George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States of America, and his administration. The Bush administration appears to have gone beyond the limits set by the Constitution, Congress and the courts on multiple occasions. More troubling is that when these transgressions were detected the Bush administration has asserted that being at war gives the executive branch the authority to exceed its authority.
The executive branch pushing for more power isn't new. Part of human nature is to push for more if no one is pushing back.
The wisdom of the Constitution is that government power is invested in three branches of government. When the executive branch pushes for excessive power the other branches are supposed to push back.
While the Supreme Court has been a disappointment as a guarantor of the Bill of Rights, it has little power to affirmatively check the excesses of the executive branch.
However, Congress does have the power to affirmatively investigate the excesses of the executive branch and to hold the President and his administration accountable. Congress--as a body and as a collection of individuals that have also taken oaths to support and defend the Constitution--has been negligent.
We call on Congress to investigate the excesses of the Bush administration. Congress should both hold the perpetrators of abuses accountable and better codify the systems to prevent future abuses.
Apologists for the Bush administration cite the examples of Presidents Abraham Lincoln going beyond his authority during the U.S. Civil War. The difference between the Civil War and the war triggered by the attacks of September 11, 2001 are numerous. Among others the Civil War had a well defined adversary.
The current conflict seems to be a blank check for permanent war as long as some radical Islamic group somewhere might use terrorism in the future. Allowing the executive branch to have power not subject to legally defined limits for an indefinite period of time negates the Constitution as a governing document.
While Congress may have been duped or cajoled into letting the Bush administration negate the Constitution, we aren't. We see it as our duty--fulfillment of our vows to support and defend the Constitution--to call for Congress to do its duty. Congress should investigate the abuses, hold perpetrators accountable and codify systems to prevent future abuses.
Further, we call on our fellow citizens to take action against members of Congress who continue to be negligent in supporting and defending the Constitution. Members of Congress who refuse or resist doing their duty should be voted out of office.
How can the text be improved?
The obvious secondary audiences for the letter is the media and voters.