A picture of Article I

Check out this photograph from Friday's New York Times:



The picture was captioned, "Three Democratic senators, from left, Carl Levin of Michigan, Harry Reid of Nevada and Jack Reed of Rhode Island, being briefed by staff members on Wednesday on the Congressional testimony on Iraq. All three were critical of the conclusions."

The caption doesn't begin to do that photograph justice.

That is a picture staged and designed to tell you that the majority party in the United States Senate is the government.

Americans are accustomed to seeing the ruffles and flourishes of office surrounding only the president. Senators and members of Congress are typically seen at microphones in crowded hallways or standing in front of phony bookcases in a tiny television studio.

But in this photo, the Senate Democrats are seen surrounded by the ornate trappings of an historic government building. In the background you can even see painted portraits that might otherwise be hanging in a museum.

What does it mean?

It might mean the United States Senate is about to make a very serious attempt to take control of the Iraq policy, and the majority party would like to remind everyone that the 535 lawmakers on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue are a co-equal branch of government under the U.S. Constitution.

In fact, the legislative branch is in Article I. The executive branch is in Article II.

If you read the Constitution, you might be surprised to learn that the president does not have the power to decide when the country goes to war and when it doesn't. That power belongs to the Congress. The framers thought it was unwise and unsafe to allow one man to take the nation into a war.

They were pretty bright for a bunch of guys who didn't even know how to use e-mail.


Copyright 2007

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