Letters of Marque & Reprisal-Mike's 2014 LPAC Speech
(Nota bene: This was originally published on 21 September, 2014)
Mandeville, LA - UPDATED: The video from this talk has been posted by LPAC - see previous speeches here and here, you can view it below.
Here are my audio remarks from the 2014 LPAC convention held at the Hilton. I have enclosed the written version as well, which is in draft form. Thanks to the Campaign For Liberty for offering me this, 6th annual address to LPAC.
Fame & The Founding Fathers' War Power-Marque And Reprisal
©2025 Mike Church
We are now officially and simultaneously, illegally at war in Iraq and soon Syria. President Obama declared himself exalted mystic ruler of the U.S. Armed forces: "While I believe I have the authority to carry out this military action without specific congressional authorization, I know that the country will be stronger if we take this course, and our actions will be even more effective...”
Effective!? Who is he kidding? The NFL’s policy against domestic violence is more effective.
The KingDude delivering this speech, 19 September, 2014.
The specific “authorization” that was given to President Obama to aid equip the little Jihadi Urban Achievers actually PROHIBITS the President from waging war, yet Obama has proceeded with his “strategy against ISIS”. This “strategy” requires the U.S. military to conduct acts of war in Syria. At first the Obama administration said they would just bomb ISIS back to Mecca over the Syrian’s objections. Then they moderated that to say The Obama admin’s team was negotiating a deal with Syria to gain permission.
Think about that for a moment. The Obama admin is more concerned about obtaining theSyrian regime’s permission to wage war than it is the American regime’s.
So how did we get to never-ending, full scale war that has basically been in effect since the first Iraq invasion of 1991 from a Constitution system that was drafted specifically to try and prevent?
Why does no one in Congress, save for Ron Paul, even propose, maybe as a joke, to use letters of marque & reprisal and THEN proceed to full scale war AFTER Congress has proved it was a just war and THEN voted to declare it?
In short, the answer is Fame. Francis Bacon the English author described what he called conditores imperiorum. As Bacon put it “Neither can they be secret, and therefore not ef− fectual; but according to the French proverb, Beaucoup de bruit, peu de fruit, Much bruit little fruit. The true marshalling of the degrees of sovereign honor, are these: In the first place are conditores imperiorum, founders of states and common− wealths; such as were Romulus, Cyrus, Caesar, Ottoman, Ismael. “
Plain and simple, it is FAME that drove the Founders to write the Constitution and it is fame that drives President’s to grab more power than they were ever granted. You might wonder if the Founders knew of this vanity and tried to guard against it? As a matter of fact they did.
James Madison, Helvidius #4 wrote:
“In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department. Beside the objection to such a mixture to heterogeneous powers, the trust and the temptation would be too great for any one man; not such as nature may offer as the prodigy of many centuries, but such as may be expected in the ordinary successions of magistracy. War is in fact the true nurse of executive aggrandizement. In war, a physical force is to be created; and it is the executive will, which is to direct it. In war, the public treasures are to be unlocked; and it is the executive hand which is to dispense them. In war, the honours and emoluments of office are to be multiplied; and it is the executive patronage under which they are to be enjoyed. It is in war, finally, that laurels are to be gathered; and it is the executive brow they are to encircle.
