Class 9: Constitutional War Powers

The Founders never intended presidents to wage endless wars. Article I, Section 8 places war-making powers squarely in Congress, because they knew the executive is most prone to war. Madison thundered that the executive “is the branch most interested in war, and most prone to it.” This lecture exposes unconstitutional wars, dismantles the myth of “police actions,” and calls us back to noninterventionism and only fighting wars declared by Congress, originally representing the interests of the people and the states.