A subservient Congress fails to grasp its role
Thank goodness no one was injured in the aftermath of the U.S. military’s extraordinary capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
No, we’re not talking about the U.S. forces or the Venezuelans. We’re talking about Republican elected officials who fired off salvos of effusive praise for President Donald Trump’s decision to oust the dictator. These elected officials practically fell over themselves in supporting “swift and decisive action to protect the American people from deadly narcotics.”
Of note, Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt remarked, “we won’t stand for third-world tinpot dictators sending criminals and poison to our country.” His Republican counterpart, Roger Marshall of Kansas, declared that, “our communities and children are safer at home because of this bold action.”
As this cascade of approval filled our social media feeds, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley proved to be an outlier. The Missouri Republican was notably quiet, then voted for a resolution that seeks to block Trump from taking military action against Venezuela without specific authorization from Congress.
He was one of five Republicans to vote with Democrats on the resolution -- a bold move until he flipped his vote about a week later.
The GOP senators who stuck to their guns (figuratively speaking) on war powers might have long enough memories to know what happens when the U.S. plunges into the nation-building business on what turns out to be a false premise.
We were once asked to take on face value that Saddam Hussein threatened the world with weapons of mass destruction. By the time we learned otherwise, it was too late. America was in too deep.
Now we’re asked to take on face value that Maduro’s removal will make a dent in a drug problem that has vexed America for decades. We shed no tears for Maduro – a brutal dictator who turned his country into an economic basket case – but will the removal of one man really curtail a vast underground economy that feasts on America’s insatiable appetite for drugs?
It’s a complex problem without an easy fix. Note that overdoses were already going down before the Maduro capture.
We’ll have to see about the impact. Until then, those in Congress have every right to rally around the flag, praise the technical brilliance of the military operation and support the commander-in-chief if they wish. But they might want to withhold judgment on whether this actually makes America safer or more sober.
Congress should proceed with caution and remember where it stands in the constitutional pecking order. A little less cheerleading and a little more oversight might be what we all need right now.
