Here's Why EVERYONE Should Be Condemning Trump's Attack on Iran

"We Are a Nation of Laws, Not Men"

“We are a nation of laws, not men”, John Adams famously stated in the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution.

But Donald Trump has a different governing philosophy: “I alone”.

We’ve seen this play out countless times, both in his first presidential term and in this current term. The latest example being his unilaterally ordered attack on Iran.

Context is important here. Trump spent decades in the Trump Organization’s corner office where he and he alone made all the decisions. There’s was no Congress, no courts, or anyone else to tell him he can’t do whatever the fuck he wants, whenever he wants. He was…the boss.

But now he’s now in the Oval Office. Where a president governs after taking an oath to uphold the Constitution and obey the rule of law. Where he is limited in his powers by Congress, the courts, the electorate, and under constant scrutiny of a watchful media.

Where checks and balances, the separation of powers and co-equal branches of government rule the day…not, “Hey Eric, Jr…this is what I want. Make it happen…”

Which brings us to the Iran attack. Under the separation of powers, the Constitution gives the power to declare war to Congress, and command of the military to the president, who would need to convince lawmakers that he not only has the justification for war (and as a last resort), but has a plan for winning and what comes after. And if Congress authorizes said war, the president, as commander-in-chief, and in consult with his generals, leads the mission. This keeps everyone honest.

But Trump did not seek Congressional approval. Nor did he seek authorization from the United Nations Security Council. And that makes his attack on Iran unconstitutional and illegal.

So why is that so important, especially in this case, where someone truly horrible, perhaps the biggest sponsor of terrorism, was killed and removed from power?

Think of it this way: Let’s say a serial killer is hiding in a house. Without a warrant, police enter illegally. They arrest him but don't read him his Miranda rights. The case against him will be dismissed and he will go free. It doesn't matter how "bad" he was. It doesn’t matter that he’s a murderer who killed many people. Because in America we have a Constitution and the rule of law.

And in America "the ends justify the means" is not how we govern. Without laws and respect for those laws by those who control government we have nothing but the chaos and corruption of a Third World nation.

Which is why Trump's Iran attack should not be celebrated, but condemned. He broke the law.

We cannot allow our elected leaders to bypass the Constitution and do whatever they and they alone believe is ‘best’. Because then we are, as Adams warned, a nation of men not laws…and we are no longer a democracy.

As Abraham Lincoln said, "Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our convention understood to be the most oppressive of all kingly oppressions and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us"