Jon Stewart continues his relentless attack on Congress’ timidity in debating ISIS / ISIL. They continue to leave it up to President Obama to decide unilaterally if we should be at war with ISIS / ISIL
Jon Stewart rightfully exposes Congress for abdicating their duty
Going to war is one of most serious acts a country will endeavor on. For a Congress to be silent on the issue is unforgivable. It is a dereliction of duty for members of Congress to be all over the media criticizing the President even as they show an embarrassing level of inaction
To be clear, though a majority of Americans have now been convinced that ISIS / ISIL is an existential threat to the United States even as rational thinking should prove otherwise, all of Congress should be on the record with the reasons they support deeper American involvement. Jon Stewart in his piece above shows a vibrant debate in the British Parliament.
Jon Stewart used two snippets to illustrate Congressional dysfunction and hypocrisy. He shows Speaker of the House John Boehner forcefully criticizing President Obama for going at it all wrong for his goal of destroying ISIS / ISIL. In fact John Boehner says we have no choice but to put boots on the ground, possibly American boots because “these are barbarians, they intend to kill us,” Boehner said. “If we don’t destroy them first we are going to pay the price.”
Instead of calling in his troops for a debate on this war, Boehner is effectively punting. He said the following to the New Your times.
I think the House and the Congress itself should speak, [but] doing this with a whole group of members who are on their way out the door, I don’t think that is the right way to handle this.
If ISIS / ISIL is an existential threat to the US, if they are barbarians that want to kill us now, how can this debate not be had now? The politicians know this is no existential threat to America. They know this is yet another war of choice. ISIS / ISIL is a despicable, evil, barbaric, murderous group like many others we do not know about are would never intend to go to war for.
Yesterday I questioned why several plausible more moral alternatives were not being considered. The conclusion as usual is always the same. Money and a plutocracy driven military industrial complex that feeds on every avenue including war for profit maximization at the expense of the American middle class.
Jon Stewart highlighted the honesty of one Republican Congressman whose spine and truthful statement was fortified by his defeat in the last election. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) said the following.
A lot of people would like to stay on the sideline and say, ‘Just bomb the place and tell us about it later.’ … It’s an election year. A lot of Democrats don’t know how it would play in their party, and Republicans don’t want to change anything. We like the path we’re on now. We can denounce it if it goes bad, and praise it if it goes well and ask what took him so long.
Americans have been played many times before. Americans have always acquiesced to those giving us reasons why we must go to war. It is time for us to think logically. It is time for us to stop allowing those that prey on our emotions and fears to continuously con us into war.