Constitutional Convenience

And the parting on the Left
Is now parting on the Right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight
--The Who

How Democrats and Republicans evoke the Constitution only when it is convenient is well demonstrated when war is in the air. The constitutional requirement is that approval for war must come from Congress.

Both Democrats and Republicans know this. Unfortunately, each party prefers to evoke the requirement only when the other party occupies the Oval Office. Thus, Democrats generally call for congressional approval when a Republican administration is in place, and Republicans call for congressional approval when a Democrat sits in the big chair.

We observed the hypocrisy once again this week during the Senate confirmation hearing of Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo. Responded to questions from Senator Rand Paul, Pompeo said that the power of the president to authorize military strikes "has not been disputed" for some time.

In addition to observing that this power was well disputed by our founding ancestors, Paul observed that Pompeo himself, when a member of Congress, claimed that then President Obama needed congressional approval to strike Libya in 2011.

Demonstrating once again that, when your guy is in charge, you tend to put that nagging set of restrictions called the Constitution away.