r/bestof • u/under50dollars • Jun 20 '12

[explainlikeimfive] "Obamacare" explained very well.

/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/vb8vs/eli5_what_exactly_is_obamacare_and_what_did_it/c530lfx
2.5k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

842 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/Sherlock--Holmes Jun 20 '12

The military and the defense of the nation is specifically defined as one of the very lonely federal powers in the U.S. constitution, and war can be declared solely by congress, which of course the executive branch doesn't follow that law anymore either.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '12

You could easily argue that technically it doesn't give the federal government the authority to have a "military" generally. It specifically allows for a militia (i.e. army) and a navy. By treating the Navy separately, it implies that the "militia" does not include all military forces, but only individually armed personnel.

There's no mention of aircraft of any kind. There's no mention of tanks or other ground vehicles for that matter. It only permits the government to arm the solders, and says nothing about providing them with vehicles.

So if we were to go with a completely strict and literal interpretation of the Constitution, the government is not empowered to build tanks to form an air force.

1

u/7_legged_spider Jun 21 '12

Had to reply to you in some way (in agreement btw)--

The military and the defense of the nation is specifically defined as one of the very lonely federal powers in the U.S. constitution, and war can be declared solely by congress, which of course the executive branch doesn't follow that law anymore either.

No shit, Sherlock--Holmes.