Presidents have absolutely gone against the will of Congress. Congress hasn't declared a war since December 7, 1941, and yet we've been at war ever since with somebody or other in order to justify the war machine. Now we have alienated almost the entire earth
Interpretation
The quote critiques the disconnect between the actions of the U.S. presidency and the will of Congress regarding war declarations.
Gore Vidal's quote highlights the ongoing military conflicts the U.S. has engaged in since World War II without formal declarations of war from Congress. It suggests a troubling trend where presidential power overrides the legislative branch, resulting in alienation of global relations and unchecked military actions that serve to sustain a war economy rather than reflecting the consent or will of the people.
In practice
In a discussion on the role of government, one might quote Vidal to emphasize the importance of congressional approval in military action.
We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.
Writing fiction has become a priestly business in countries that have lost their faith.
The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
For the average American, freedom of speech is simply the freedom to repeat what everyone else is saying and no more.
Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.
Missing from much of the public debate is discussion of the simple fact that lurking behind every terroristic act is a specific political antecedent. That does not justify either the perpetrator or his political cause. Nonetheless, the fact is that almost all terrorist activity originates from some political conflict and is sustained by it as well.
The faces and the tactics of the leaders may change every four years, or two, or one, but the people go on forever.
In Washington, task forces work like Tylenol: they reduce the symptoms of scandal while leaving the substance untouched.
If a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged, a liberal is a conservative who's been arrested.
The leading student of business propaganda, Australian social scientist Alex Carey, argues persuasively that “the 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.
Since the 1930s the technique of buying votes with the voters' own money has been expanded to an extent undreamed of by earlier politicians.
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