Permanent War and the Imperial Presidency

The lawlessness of the imperial presidency is today nowhere more apparent than in the Obama administration's unconstitutional and illegal war in Libya.  Unfortunately, there are only a handful of representatives in the Congress who are interested in maintaining the separation of powers, and preventing the executive from usurping the Congress's power to declare war.  From Politico:

A bipartisan group of House members announced on Wednesday that it is filing a lawsuit charging that President Obama made an illegal end-run around Congress when he approved U.S military action against Libya.

“With regard to the war in Libya, we believe that the law was violated. We have asked the courts to move to protect the American people from the results of these illegal policies,” said Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who led the 10-member anti-war coalition with Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.).

The White House is expected on Wednesday to deliver to Congress a much-anticipated report detailing military activity in Libya. According to Kucinich, the suit will challenge the Obama administration’s “circumvention of Congress and its use of international organizations such as the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to authorize the use of military force abroad."

It also will ask a judge to prohibit the White House from conducting a war without congressional approval.

The policy of perpetual war promulgated by the Democratic and Republican parties is a threat to democratic, republican government.  If the Obama administration refuses to exercise the powers of the executive in accordance with the Constitution, the president should be impeached.