Tom Carper: “the Founders of our country did not believe in monarchy. They put up with one king for a while and didn't want to have…”

“the Founders of our country did not believe in monarchy. They put up with one king for a while and didn't want to have to put up with another one down the line. Meeting in Philadelphia about 220 years ago, about 30 miles from my home in Wilmington, DE, our Founding Fathers did not invest all power over national affairs in our national destiny in the hands of any one person. Rather, they created a separation of powers. They created, as we all know, three coequal branches of Government. I don't sit down every day or night and actually open the Constitution and read it. But every now and then I think a review of some of it and its parameters is instructive. For those who take the time--particularly looking at the debate we have had in recent days on whether it is appropriate for us to provide some guidance and expression with respect to the expenditure of these moneys in the supplemental appropriations, especially in Iraq--it is helpful to look at the Constitution and get a sense of what our Founding Fathers had in mind. In looking at article II in this copy of the Constitution, section 2, there is about a sentence where it talks about the power of the President. This is what it says: The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States. That is what it says.…”