Rand Paul Needs to Reconsider Romney Endorsement of Condi is the VP Pick

Rand Paul has been a strong opponent to the interventionist model established by the Bush administration, which basically defined is the spreading democracy around the world at gunpoint. You may remember Senator Paul came down on both the Obama administration and the Bush administration for these policies. Rand Paul writes;

Anyone who believes President Obama is less aggressive internationally than his predecessors is mistaken.

I do not yet know if I will find a Romney presidency more acceptable on foreign policy. But I do know that I must oppose the most recent statements made by Mitt Romney in which he says he, as president, could take us to war unilaterally with Iran, without any approval from Congress. His exact words were:

I can assure you if I’m president, the Iranians will have no question but that I will be willing to take military action if necessary to prevent them from becoming a nuclear threat to the world. I don’t believe at this stage, therefore, if I’m president that we need to have a war powers approval or special authorization for military force. The president has that capacity now.

This is a misreading of the role of the president and Congress in declaring war. 

The Constitution clearly states that it is Congress that has the power to declare war, not the president. The War Powers Act also clearly states that U.S. forces are to engage in hostilities only if the circumstances are “pursuant to (1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.”

Absent these criteria, the president has no authority to declare war.

Even if the president believes he has such authority, the War Powers Act goes on to require the president to seek congressional approval within 60 days of conflict.

No president is above the law or above the Constitution....

I will hold accountable and oppose any actions from any president, Republican or Democrat, if he declares war without congressional consent.

If Mitt Romney does indeed pick Condoleeza Rice as his Vice President considering her record of approval of the policies of nation building (spreading democracy at gunpoint), we will know what the next four years hold as we start seeing the recycling of members from the former failed Bush administration shape Mitt Romney's beliefs starting with one of Bush's main brains, Condi. I think it is safe to say this would be justification for Senator Paul to pull his endorsement and distance himself from Mitt for Brains as we see the policies of the last 12 years, endless wars, tense foreign policy relations, and more Americans coming home in coffins will be the norm.

The Bush administration through the Bush doctrine entered these wars under a false premise as the aggressor not using the military for a common defense. As Senator Paul has stated strongly, the Obama administration is no less aggressive in these matters. We are heading for more war, which is represented in Romney's words against Iran. Condi is posed to be an influential mind in these matters. The writing is on the wall as Mitt looks to the hawkish neocons to shape his foreign policy. At $16 trillion in debt, the day of reckoning is coming as the cost of the current foreign policy philosophy continues to add up with every bullet fired.