March 19, 2015
Comment by Jim Campbell, Citizen Journalist, Oath Keeper and Patriot.
I must confess to being one of those who have basically written Senator Rand Paul and his father Congressman Ron Paul off as being libertarian kooks.
Rand Paul makes all the sense in the world. We can’t continue to have open-ended wars all over the map without the checks and balances of a president coming to congress for authorization.
Our current one, the alleged “Constitutional Law Professor,” might consider reading the Constitution or at least the parts of it he as let stand thus far.
During a Wednesday Senate hearing Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) schooled Secretary of State John Kerry and other top administration officials on how Constitutional separation of government power is supposed to work in the United States.
The Kentucky lawmaker’s remarks were likely prompted by Kerry’s earlier criticism of the 47 senators who signed an open letter warning Iranian leaders that any plan worked out with the administration would have to pass congressional muster.
“To write to the leaders in the middle of a negotiation… to write them and suggest that they’re going to give a constitutional lesson, which by the way was absolutely incorrect, is quite stunning,” Kerry had said. “This letter ignores more than two centuries of precedent in the conduct of American foreign policy.”
Paul wasn’t impressed and took a few minutes during a conversation on Obama’s latest request to use military force against the Islamic State to explain to Kerry why the administration is wrong.
Quoting John Madison, Paul reminded Kerry that the Constitution vested war powers in the legislature because the “executive branch is most prone to war.” He also noted that the Constitution was designed, in part, to pit the ambitions of the three branches of government against one another.
“I’m not particularly happy with being lectured to by the administration about the Constitution,” Paul said. “This is an administration who I believe has trampled the Constitution at many turns.”
“This is an administration that seeks to legislate when it is not in their purview, whether it be immigration, whether it be health care, or whether it not be a war that’s been going on for eight months without congressional authorization,” he continued.
Paul said that his reason for signing the letter to Iran was to send a message to the White House.
“The message was to President Obama, that we want you to obey the law, we want you to understand the separation of powers,” Paul said.
“I signed it to an administration that doesn’t listen, to an administration that at every turn tries to go around Congress, because you think you can’t get your way,” he added. “The president says, ‘oh, the Congress won’t do what I want, so I’ve got a pen and I’ve got my phone and I’m going to do what I want.’ The letter was to you.”
Moving on to the issue of authorizing military force against ISIS, Paul lamented that the administration’s current request is too broad.
More at We The People
Disclaimer: This article was not written by Lorra B.
The Silent Soldier 
The more I listen to Paul the more I find myself thinking I’ve been a Libertarian for quite some time
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