Declaration of War

I was surfing the net and ran across blog entries where people still critize the government for not asking for a declaration of war. Those of you who simultaneously clamor for a formal declaration of war and decry Administration exercise of power should understand what really happens when war is declared and understand what you are asking.

A declaration of war automatically triggers many standby statutory authorities conferring special powers on the President with respect to the military, foreign trade, transportation, communications, manufacturing, alien enemies, etc. In contrast, no standby authorities appear to be triggered automatically by an authorization for the use of force. When the U.S. declares war, the following standby statutory authorities which are exercised with very limited restrictions:

A declaration activates statutes that:
•Automatically extends enlistments in the armed forces until the end of the war,
•Empower the President to interdict all trade with the enemy, Trading With the Enemy Act
•Order manufacturing plants to produce armaments and seize them if they refuse,
•Gives control of transportation systems in order to give the military priority use
•Order communications systems to give priority to the military.
•Trigger the Alien Enemy Act, which gives the President substantial discretionary authority over nationals of an enemy state who are in the United States.
•Authorizes use electronic surveillance for purposes of gathering foreign intelligence information without a court order under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
•Can make the Coast Guard part of the Navy,
•Gives the President substantial discretion over the appointment and reappointment of commanders,
•Allows the military priority use of the natural resources on the public lands and the continental shelf.
•Authorizes control of the Tennessee Valley Authority in order to manufacture explosives or for other military purposes
•Authorizes condemning land for military uses
•Gives the President full power over agricultural exports.
•Gives power to “apprehend, restrain, secure, and remove” enemy aliens, “natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government fourteen years and upward in the United States and not naturalized.”
•Empowers the government to investigate, regulate, or prohibit, any transactions in foreign exchange with any banking institution
•Forbids foreign nationals from importing, exporting, hoarding, melting, or earmarking of gold or silver coin or bullion, currency or securities
•Conveys to the government complete control over any property in which any foreign country or a national has any interest.

If you fear a president who exercises power with a war authorization, how much would you fear him with a full declaration of war? Declaring war is not a matter of rhetoric. It has serious consequences that conveys upon the president almost plenary power.