[Old Teufel Hunden]

"However, without a constitutional amendment, we have a problem with Art. I, Sec. 8 Cl. 12."

I'm not sure how you can create a constitutional amendment to further delineate what is a war that needs declared by Congress and what is an 'action' in which the President can make unilateral decisions on. The nature of war is ever changing. For instance, after 9/11 we went after Al Qada and the Taliban for harboring them. We essentially were making war with an organization, not a nation state. There is now cyber war with China, which have no doubt is a kind of warfare. We have sections of our Army/Air Force/Navy/Marines that are now dedicated to fighting cyber war.

It is a difficult thing to know who has what authority during a conflict. One thing that continues, is that though the President can unilaterally act in America's interests, the Congress has the power of the purse strings and can limit the President that way. That seems to be the best way to have a check and balance.

"Good examples of Madison's point, Feldman's viewpoint notwithstanding, are the Vietnam War and Bush's utterly misguided invasion of Iraq."

While the Vietnam War and Iraq War may not have had the classic declaration of war that was done in WWI, WWII, War of 1812 etc... lets not forget that the Congress did get a chance to vote on both wars. The Gulf of Tonkin resolution and the Authorization of use of Military Force against Iraq both were votes by Congress that explicitly gave the President the authorization to use armed forces and the Congress made them open ended. So perhaps we need to look at the Congress's role in this as well as the President. Both Congress's could have asked the President or could have drafted a declaration of war.

[Jim W N]

According to Art. I, Sec. 8 Cl. 12 , Congress cannot finance an army beyond two years. Although I believe in the "Peace Through Strength" policy, Art. I, Sec. 8 Cl. 12 stands in the way without a constitutional amendment.

The Gulf of Tonkin resolution and the Authorization of use of Military Force against Iraq both were votes by Congress that explicitly gave the President the authorization to use armed forces and the Congress made them open ended. So perhaps we need to look at the Congress's role in this as well as the President.

Of course. It would appear that without a congressional declaration of war, the Gulf of Tonkin resolution and the Authorization of use of Military Force against Iraq (congressional politically-expedient "workarounds" to declaring war) would have been constitutionally limited to two years according to Art. I, Sec. 8 Cl. 12.