participated in the last election did so believing that the United States Constitution was still in force. We still believe that.

We know that the Constitution, the supreme law of the United States, permits only Congress to declare war. Congress has not declared war on Iran.

The acting president, George W. Bush, is bound by the Constitution to faithfully execute the laws of the nation, and he is bound by oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Having settled those questions definitively, we might question whether the United States should even consider declaring war on Iran.

The answer to that question is no, and here's why:

Most important of all, Iran does not pose a clear and present danger to the United States. On the other hand, the United States has a long history of being a clear and present danger to many countries, almost always claiming falsely that its intentions were to promote peace. Pat Buchanan lists some of those false peace missions in his article:

But in the last 110 years, peace-loving Americans have fought Spain, Germany twice, Austria-Hungary, Japan, Italy, North Korea, North Vietnam, Iraq twice and Serbia. We have intervened militarily in the Philippines, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Lebanon, and Grenada. We bombed Libya.

There were many others, some still in progress. The United States federal government armed other nations and encouraged them to attack others on our behalf. Our government promotes war for power and financial gain.

The other important reason why the United States should not consider declaring war on Iran is that our government can no longer be trusted to tell the truth. At every opportunity, our government has lied to us and to the world. Everyone over the age of four has witnessed this. Everyone over the age of sixty can feel their stomachs tighten right now. Henceforth we are forced to conclude that everything that our government tells us is false. Everything.

Another important reason why the United States should not consider declaring war on Iran is that our old media, what some call the mainstream media, cannot be trusted to inform the American public honestly. The American media are in partnership with the federal government, and the lies that are generated by the government are relayed faithfully by the media. (See War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.) This leaves the American public largely misinformed and unequipped to command lawful representation in their Congress.

The last important reason why the United States should not consider declaring war on Iran is that the world--including a great many Americans--won't stand for it. If the Congress declares war on Iran, the United States federal government will be inviting extraordinary retaliation from every corner of the globe, beginning right here at home.