Mark Dayton: “A year ago this month, Congress cast a fateful vote. The majority decided to give the President blanket authority to…”

“A year ago this month, Congress cast a fateful vote. The majority decided to give the President blanket authority to declare war against Iraq. On several occasions during our deliberations over that resolution, I had the good fortune to be on the Senate floor when the great Senator from West Virginia, the senior Senator, spoke. Both Senators from West Virginia are truly outstanding Senators and men. One is extraordinary in his seniority in this body and also the wisdom he has acquired through his experience and service and his search for the history of this country and the history of other countries throughout the world and across the spans of time. It was my great opportunity, sitting in that chair where the Presiding Officer now sits, to be instructed about this country, especially the Constitution which all of us take our oath of office to uphold, that extraordinary document which has shown, over the span of more than two centuries, a foresight, a vision, an understanding of human nature and an appreciation for the potential we bring and the pitfalls we must avoid. It has been unprecedented in the history of the world and has produced, along with the quality of our citizenry, the most successful form of self-governance that has ever been devised or practiced on this planet. As a result of much of what I learned from Senator Byrd, I voted against the resolution which passed the Senate last October.”