Cindy Dickson
Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3
No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.
This clause says that a single state cannot and shall not take any military action without obtaining necessary permission from the nation as a whole, and its political powers, particularly congress. WHat this means is that no military action can be taken under the power of just that state, it must be done under congress.
This eliminates the idea of complete individualism in each state and brings all the states together to understand that whatever steps that are taken, must be evaluated by congress, unless an attack has already occurred, and defense is what's necessary to prevent further damage. In this specific section, states are informed about what they can and cannot do, just to maintain stability within the nation. This section is significant in a sense that it builds the idea of unity and equality among the states, which is what the constitution was aimed at, the spread of unity and equality amongst the nation and its inhabitants. The reason I chose this particular section was because it is evident, in today's times, how powerful congress is, even with the Syria situation going on, the President himself could not decide about the invasion of Syria, it required congress' approval before any action could be taken, and this goes to show that this particular clause is still in effect and applies to everyone, not just small state leaders, but also the nation's leader.
I’m pleased that you mentioned Syria in your synopsis of your article. If America did go into or if they did bomb Syria, as most members of congress wanted, then Obama would have done exactly as Bush did with Iraq. Up till this day, there is no conclusive proof that Iraq had WMD. They wiped out a generation of Iraqis, and American troops are still paying with their lives because of the inability of Congress to do their job then. They totally failed to protect our troops. One might argue that they kept Obama in check from making a huge mistake, but if they did not act as they did, then they would have risk more American lives needlessly, and most importantly they learnt from their predecessors mistakes.
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