Are We Being Represented?
On May 31st of this year, President Obama exchanged five prisoners from Guantanamo Bay for US army soldier Bowe Bergdahl. Journalists are claiming this transfer was illegal as it violated federal law.
You may be surprised to find that the laws broken were not about the actual swap, but in how it was conducted. It would have been legal to do a prisoner exchange, had the president notified congress 30 days in advance, which he did not.
Members of congress are to be notified for a reason. As our representatives in government, they need to be informed of these things so that they can make decisions on our behalf, perhaps even block the prisoner exchange, should it be appropriate.
I have two questions. 1) How do we hold our president accountable for breaking the law and acting without authority (especially since it seems congress is unwilling to impeach, not that I am calling for that). 2) How effectively can our congress represent us when they are not informed about what is going on?
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28887282
As Always
Humble Admin
At this point, I'm doubting that he will be held accountable. When was the last time you heard the media mention this story? To be honest, I think there's a reason he didn't tell Congress. Whether or not you believe the claims that the offer didn't allow 30 days to respond, anything proposed in Congress in the last several years has only resulted in days of action-less arguing. You are right in being concerned about our level of representation...but there's no guarantee you would have agreed with the decisions your representatives made on your behalf anyway. IF they even made a decision in time to do anything.
ReplyDeleteIsn't congress suing President Obama? He has done a few things without going and talking to Congress about it. He is abusing he power as President. Congress would of allowed this anyways, but it is the fact that Obama did it without Congress' consent.
ReplyDeleteObama did have time to inform congress and talk to congress about the swap. I think Obama should've exercised his authority in the manner that he is supposed to. I think the media is blowing the thing up by making it a matter of "was Bergdahl worth it?" Thats missing the point and a side story to the matter of Obama trying to rescue American soldiers.
ReplyDelete