Foreign Policy

Ukraine, Russia, Israel, and Palestine are far from Kansas District 53 and yet passionate opinions exist within our community about those wars.  War in Afghanistan and Iraq went on for over 20 years since the call to arms after 9-11. Young American voters can only imagine what it is like to live in an America that is not at war with another country. Voters older than I can recall the wars in Vietnam and Korea. I am reminded of the Cold War with the USSR and how tense economic, philosophical, and geopolitical undertones shape the international relationship.

Do you know what is similar about all of the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, & Korea all have in common? None of them involved a declaration of war from Congress.

It is my opinion that the US should stay out of nation building and worry about her own problems.  Frankly, I would consider that to be a rather bipartisan stance and a universal goal of building peace rather than war. Yet todays Republicans and Democrats are unified on spending our tax dollars to kill countless more individuals on the other side of the world. I find this infuriating.

These are national issues, but at the state level, I see no reason why soldiers of the Kansas National Guard should be called up to fight in a real warzone when Congressmen don’t have the courage to risk their election by signing a declaration of war on a piece of paper in the safety of the Capital.  I believe the Federal War Powers Resolution of 1973 is clearly ineffective for its intended purpose and Kansas must protect her soldiers from the federal government.