Abdicating, Abusing, and Adding

Back in 1787 when the Founding Fathers laid out our government in the Constitution, they intended to create a government that was limited in its power and scope. Furthermore, they hoped that the Legislature could work in the interest of the people and in regulation to the Executive. However, considering the vast array of power held within the current Congress, and in light of its intended powers as put forth in Article I, Section 8, it seems that the aims of our Founders have come up short.

The powers that Congress was original given are, actually, quite few. The Legislature was to concern itself with coining money, setting up the Postal System, building roads, unifying the States' laws on bankruptcy and naturalization, authorizing patents and copyrights, and punishing crimes committed on the "high seas." The aforementioned are all vital and logical functions for Congress to perform; nonetheless, the remaining clauses in Article I, Section 8 delineate Congress' two most important powers: the power to levy taxes and tariffs, and the power to declare war and maintain the armed forces. Those two encompass, by my count, some 10 of the 18 clauses in this section. Thus it seems safe to say that the main activities in which Congress engaged were expected to simply be imposing taxes and dealing with warfare. Regrettably, in modern times, Congress no longer lines up with its Constitutional counterpart.

Congress' first power, that of taxation, has been thoroughly abused; never in their worst nightmares would the Founding Fathers have imagined a country in which the tax burden would be as high as ours is today. Between income taxes (which were first implemented in the Civil War, 90 years after the Founders' era), property taxes, sales taxes and all the other taxes Americans pay, it's safe to conclude that James Madison never intended for Congress' taxation power to be used that much.

The second power, the power related to warfare, has, in a very real sense, been abdicated. While the Congress may still be in charge of funding and raising the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, the one thing they are not in charge of is sending those forces to war. That's right, Congress no longer has the power to declare war; and what's worse, they didn't lose that power, they simply gave it up. Of course, they didn't just give it up to anyone, they gave it up to the last person on earth the Founding Fathers wanted to have the power to declare war: the President.

Don't believe me? Consider this, the United States of America hasn't declared war since December 8, 1941; nevertheless, we've fought in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Bosnia, Afghanistan and many other places since then. But how, without a declaration of war, can the Commander in Chief deploy forces all over the world? Unfortunately, nowadays, all the President has to do is either get a 'resolution' of support from Congress, like LBJ did in Vietnam, or go on a 'UN police task,' like Truman did in Korea. This is not a statement on how just or unjust all Wars since W.W.II are, but rather a statement on how the United States Congress has simply given the President the very thing they dreaded he would. Remember, our ancestors fought in opposition to a King, in part, because of how a monarch can rush to war at his own will.

Finally, as we all know, the modern American Congress has many, many, many, many, many more things it does than just overtax and abdicate declaring war; it handles Social Security, Welfare, Medicare, and Medicaid; it funds everything from education to its own pockets; and has snatched as much power as possible away from the States and the people (And, no, all of those things don't fall under the clause about setting up the Postal Service). Unfortunately, the advent of big government programs and power snatches has never been seriously questioned on the basis of Constitutional authority. As a matter of fact, questioning FDR's 'New Deal' got you put on a wiretapping list that actually included American citizens (unlike President Bush's).

Indeed, somewhere between the 16th amendment, the New Deal and Congressional 'authorizations' of force, it seems the United States Congress has lost sight of what it was intended to do. And naturally, 'We the People' are the ones who get hurt the most by this. Because a bloated, overburdened, and busy Congress, coupled with a Chief Magistrate holding excessive powers, diminishes the dream of men like Madison and Hamilton - not to mention our freedom.