Rand Paul Urges Congressional Colleagues to Debate Entering a War with Russia

By
Jose Nino
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On matters concerning war-making, the U.S Congress has largely ignored the Constitution.

Since World War II, Congress has preferred passing the buck to the Executive branch on how to conduct military actions. 

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul does not agree with the way his fellow members of Congress conduct themselves on legislative questions dealing with war. 

In an appearance on the Newsmax show John Bachman Now, Rand Paul made the case for Congress to debate and then vote on deciding whether to enter a war against Russia:

Newsmax tweeted one of the statements Paul made during the interview:

“@RandPaul

: ‘The idea of the US being directly involved in a war, the Constitution requires that it be debated in Congress. The President doesn’t have the power to do or enter us into a war.’ http://bit.ly/3wuF4Im

@JohnFBachman”

 

Paul is correct in calling for Congress to engage in a proper debate over a move that could potentially lead to World War III. One part of America’s decline is largely due to the fact that its political class does not abide by constitutional norms. 

Nevertheless, Paul’s calls may be a bit too pedantic and lacking in awareness. We live in a clearly post-constitutional order where politicians do not care for the Constitution. Instead of obsessing over constitutional procedures, Paul should just make the simple case that entering a war with Russia is a ludicrous idea based on the fact that we would be flirting with the idea of a nuclear exchange with a regional power that has escalatory dominance within Ukraine. 

If we don’t enter nuclear doomsday in such a battle, the US will still be bled dry both physically and in terms of resources. This entire fate could be avoided if our political class exercises realism and restraint with regards to the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.