Henry Nicolle California state Citizen for Congress

Introduction:

"War" is simply the exercise of force by bodies politic, or bodies assuming to be bodies politic, against each other. It is a principle of the law of nations that the "the sovereign power of the state has the sole authority to make war." Today, we are engaged in two wars, both of which have arisen from our neglect of our political duty to restrain the people serving in government to their proper roles and authorities.

The first of these wars began at the birth of our country and has now breached a critical threshold. This is the war of insurrection and sedition from within the governments we created, by the people within our governments, who have tired of the bindings of our constitutions.

The second of these wars is the current unconstitutional and illegal war of conquest that George Bush and his fellow perpetrators have committed.

These two wars are joined at the hip, each arising from the same faulty presumption of sovereignty. Are you and I the sovereigns of our country or are the people of the government our sovereigns? Which, among the two bodies, has the authority to determine which is the master and who will be the servants? The question is real, the answer necessary and the asking or telling is imminent.

The Law: Where is the Authority for War?

You and I Hold Authority for War

We are self-governed. The People of the states of our country are the "sovereigns". All powers and authority for governing rise from us.

Origin of State and Federal Institutions

We, people like us, created our states. We, via our state representatives, created the federal union, the federal executive, the federal legislature and the federal judiciary.

We decided their powers, we assigned their duties and we circumscribed their authority. There exist exactly zero powers inherent in any branch, official or institution of the federal government. Only you and I hold the authority to change those institutions.

Sovereignty of the People Exercised by Constitutional Delegation to Representatives

Our representatives to the House of Representatives in congress exercise the powers and authority of  the "sovereigns" of our union in our absence. Without the legislatures' valid laws, the executive has very few items on his schedule and the judiciary have few cases before them. Our representatives can repeal every law passed during the existence of our government at any moment we require them to so act.

Judiciary Unconstitutionally Silent on Conflict of Powers

The judiciary is also the creation of our federal constitution, coeval and co-ordinate of the Executive and Legislature, independent of either and both. They are charged by the People with the trust and duty of sitting in judgment upon the acts of the other branches when "a case" challenging the Constitutional authority of such acts should come before them. The courts refusal to hear the People's constitutional challenge of the legislature and executive abandonment of the non-delegation doctrine is itself a constitutional challenge and an abuse of judicial discretion.

Constitutional Enumeration of War Powers

The  question of war and the authority of war is explicitly and exclusively declared in words as plain as language affords where this power resides in the federal government. To Congress is entrusted the power

"...to declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal..."
(Article I., sect. 8., Par. 11)

It contemplated temporary measures by the Executive, so that use of force other than War are distinctly provided. For example:

"...to define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the High Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;..."
(Article I., sect. 8., Par. 10)

"...to raise and support armies;..."
(Article I., sect. 8., Par. 12)

"...to provide and maintain a Navy;..."
(Article I., sect. 8., Par. 13)

Even in cases of insurrection and invasion, the Constitution does not depart from its inexorable rule that the country and the People could only be involved in the legal and physical consequences of war by Act of Congress. The power to suppress insurrections and repel invasions Congress might delegate to the President by general law as it did at various moments in our history.

"...to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections, and repel Invasions;..."
(Article I., sect. 8., Par. 15)

Constitution Contemplates War Powers and Presidential Contingencies

The Constitution contemplates all these contingencies, but the power to put the country in a state of war is was limited to the Congress alone, acting upon each particular case.

It has been maintained by the current Legislature and Executive that budgetary Acts of Congress validate the country's state of war and authorize George Bush's invasion and conquest of Iraq.

This is utterly inconsistent with the idea of a Government created by a written Constitution.

To affirm that when a careful and scrupulous distribution of powers has been made between the three great branches of free government, either one may exercise the powers of the other, and that subsequent cession or approval by the competent power will retroactively validate the act, is to convert the Constitution into a mere shadow.

The maxim between private principal and agent , "omnis ratihabitio", etc., cannot apply between the Legislature and the President or George Bush in his private capacity. The supposed "ratihabitio" here is not by the principal who speaks in the Constitution, but by another agent of the principal having no right to delegate the special power.

The second and extraordinary part of the federal government's argument for war by budgetary act is founded upon a mere figure of speech, which is repugnant to the genius of our republican institutions and above all to our Constitution. It makes the President somehow the personification of the country and invokes for him the power and right to use all the force he can command, to "save the life of the nation". George Bush asserts the principle of self-defense and claims all power as President.

This argument is to assert that the Constitution contemplated and tacitly provided that the President should be dictator, and all Constitutional government be at an end, whenever he should think that "the life of the country" is in danger.

This argument comes from the plea of necessity. The Constitution knows no such word. The People's written form of the Constitution, by these means, and by this distribution of powers provides for the purpose of our government. Any other means and powers assumed by the people in government are not constitutional, but revolutionary. And the sole purpose for our government is the defense of our individual rights and the preservation of our liberty. We are all slaves or not any of us is a slave.

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War is Often as Fatal to the Harmony the People of Conquest as Upon those They Conquer
War and the inevitable effects of war should not be permitted to be visited upon the People or to consume our resources without a full and careful deliberation among the Congress, the states and the People.

Our War-Making Powers must be returned to the sole exercise of the Congress.

Our Congress and Judiciary must be Disciplined for duplicity and misfeasance of treason.

Our President and his Cohorts must be prosecuted for Treason and other crimes.

If we neglect these critical Duties of the People, our government will surely abandon all remaining pretense of obedience to constitutional self-governing processes.

The Constitution Controls the President, Even as Commander-In-Chief
The Executive Branch is granted limited powers to act militarily in the heat of necessity and to exercise necessary force when force alone can gain the legitimate desire of the United States. It is obvious that these powers do not include the independent power to initiate or commit the People to War.

The Executive Has No Constitutional War Power
The President and his advisors may recommend War, but they have no authority to declare or conduct War without the explicit authority of the Congress.

Power Corrupts
Command of the most powerful armed forces in the history of the world, supported by the unlimited wealth of the People's resources has proven to be uncontrollable by specific constitutional delegations of authority and division of authority between the branches of the federal government.

It is Treason to Make War Without Authority
George Walker Bush has openly and deliberately abandoned the authority of the Congress and the People. Under color of law, he has committed our Military and Economic forces to a War of Conquest, Occupation and Domination. George Bush has usurped delegated War Powers unconditionally prohibited to his exercise by constitutional delegation exclusively to the Congress and withheld from the Executive.

War by Treason Creates Acts of War against Us in Just Retaliation and Recovery of Stolen Wealth
Since the Executive branch and the office of the President possess no war-making powers, he necessarily has acted in his private capacity. Such private acts are treason. George Bush has precipitated the waging of justifiable war against our country, our property and our people by those who we have invaded for retaliation and recovery of the wealth of their people that we have destroyed or stolen.

George Bush and Associates Must be Prosecuted
It is critically important that George Bush and his associates face prosecution for treason and for other crimes against the People and the states of the United States of America.

The Congress Holds the People's Sole Delegation for Committing the union of States to War
The Executive has usurped the War-Making Powers and control of the purse-strings of the Congress with the unauthorized acquiescence of the members of the House of Representatives and Senate

Cooperation Between the Branches to Circumvent the Constitution is Treason
We dare not permit the practice of silent collusion between the current Executive, Congress and Judiciary to continue, nor to permit their escape unpunished for their abandonment of constitutional safeguards to enable usurpation of powers for foreign conquest.

Acts Under Color of Law Are Individual and Personal Acts, Not "Official Acts"
When officials act without the authority of the Constitution, their conduct is "under color of law" and are personal acts, without privilege as our representatives. George Bush and his cohorts must face prosecution for their crimes under color of law against the states and the Constitution. They have no privilege of immunity from prosecution for personal conduct not authorized under the Constitution.

Federal Judiciary Abetting Treason and Collusion to Deny Self-Government by the People
The Judiciary have abrogated their duty to restrain the unconstitutional contrivances of the other two branches by refusing to hear the appeals of Citizens against the pursuit of unconstitutional wars. The Judiciary claims Citizens have no standing to challenge constitutionality of federal acts because there no controversy exists between the Congress and the Executive. The justices silence confirms that the Citizens are not a party to federal Constitution.

The Judiciary became complicit in the treason of George Bush and in supporting collusion of the Congress by denying status by Citizens to properly challenge the constitutionality of war-making by a president without the authority for war by the congress. The cowardice of the Judiciary is evident by their silence when action was their duty.

I believe it is imperative for the survival of our self-government, the recovery of our liberty and the preservation of our individual rights, to hold the men and women of our current administration, of the Congress and Judiciary personally and criminally accountable for the conversion of our country into an instrument of conquest and for squandering the resources of this and future generations upon that adventure.

It is important that those people entrusted with the custody of our great powers and the fruit of our liberty should respect the awful responsibility that accompanies the authority and trust invested in their conduct. The abuse and negligence of our People's trust and liberty must bring terrible retribution upon those servants who dishonor us and place us in harms' way. We must set an example today, to establish our future assurance that treason is not merely a crime of the lowly, but a crime that the most powerful must especially tread carefully to avoid.

The defense and the will of our country sometimes requires the projection and execution of brute force. Our Federal Constitution contains adequate provision for the use of force in our country's interests, including provisions for establishing, arming and maintaining our armed forces restrictions on the unnecessary accumulation of war resources and on the exercise of armed force by the government.

The President and his advisors may recommend, but may not declare or levy War without the explicit authority of the Congress. Nor may the Congress re-delegate War Power to the Executive.

The Judiciary may not refuse to hear the People's objections to collusion between the Congress and the Executive to loosen their constitutional bindings in order to expand upon the powers delegated or to create powers not delegated in contravention of the limits imposed upon each by the Constitution, or to permit one branch to exercise the powers of another.

The Constitution requires that the ability of the federal government to raise armies and to wage war be moderated by the effective voice of the states and the People of the states in and over these processes. The constitutional organization and arming of the Militias by the federal government, with the scattering of the command, materials and manpower among the states and under the ordinary command of the governors, provides the necessary moderation of federal powers to engage the country, states and People in unwise adventures and unnecessary wars.

The federal armed forces now in existence must be deployed to the Regulated Militias of the states as is specified by the terms of our federal constitution and the materials and means for war likewise constitutionally disposed. Our military tactical capability and responsiveness to necessity is not hampered by this distribution of men, materials and command during peacetime and the strategic capacity for defense of our country is greatly enhanced. A side effect is the repair of our damaged rights, protected under the first and second amendments, to freely discuss the fitness of our government and officials and to improve our personal liberty by repossessing our right to own and carry the means of self-defense.

Disobedience by the Executive, the Congress and the Judiciary to the delegations and prohibitions of our constitutions have conscripted the resources, lives and futures of the People and placed them in the hands of the Executive.

The executive branch's command of the most powerful armed forces in the history of the world, and the unlimited wealth of the People's resources to put those forces to war has proven to be uncontrollable by constitutional delegations of authority and division of authority between the branches of government.

The Executive has usurped the War-Making Powers and control of the purse-strings of the Congress with the unauthorized acquiescence of the members of the House of Representatives and Senate The Judiciary silently refuse their duty to restrain the unconstitutional contrivances of the other two branches by refusing to hear the appeals of Citizens against the pursuit of unconstitutional wars of preemptive aggression, of forceful occupation of foreign lands, of destruction of foreign governments and of establishing governments over people foreign to our, and their, ideals of governance and social construction.

I believe it is imperative for the survival of our self-government, the recovery of our liberty and the preservation of our individual rights, to hold the men and women of our current administration, the Congress and Judiciary personally and criminally accountable for the conversion of our country into an instrument of conquest and for squandering the resources of this and future generations upon that adventure.