Before the United States’ military strikes on Iran on June 22, 2025, The New York Times editorial board ran a plea for adherence to process on June 18, 2025, writing, “To declare [war] is not the decision of [Benjamin] Netanyahu or Mr. Trump. Under the Constitution, Congress alone has that power.” 

The New York Times did not want to address whether or not the U.S. should bomb Iran — it lays out the case for both — but rather that if we were to, it would need congressional approval. 

It is unfortunate that The New York Times ignored the ethics of bombing Iran because actions can be immoral, even if sanctioned by Congress. Process does not supersede outcome. 

More recently, this idea was seen in the U.S.’ capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at the direction of President Donald Trump. House Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that “it’s a violation of the law to do what they did without getting the authorization of Congress.” As if it would have been fine to “run” a sovereign nation if Congress approved. 

Yes, Congress does have authority over military actions. But, it would be false to imply that Congress has never ceded its authority to the executive branch when it probably shouldn’t have,  historical examples including the Tonkin Gulf Resolution in 1964 and the Authorization for Use of Military Force Act of 2001. 

The former provided a “blank check” for the Johnson administration to continue its bloody campaign in Vietnam, while the latter provided former President George W. Bush with the authority to enact “necessary and appropriate force” to conduct counterterrorism operations, opening military commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Involvement in Venezuela should not be condemned because it was not authorized by Congress; it should be condemned as the president’s claim that U.S. oil companies will take control of the region to “fix the badly broken infrastructure” signals a more insidious motivation for attacking Venezuela, a country with 20% of the world’s oil reserves. 

Bombing Iran should not be condemned because Congress, alone, has the power to declare war. It should be condemned because Trump’s motivation for halting Iraqi nuclear development ignores U.S. Intelligence information that suggests that “Iran was not engaged in key weaponization work,” according to the BBC.

The Democratic Party worships at the altar of process. They always have. In a reflection on Barack Obama’s administration published in 2019, Corey Robin for Dissent magazine wrote that Obama’s vision was “less of power than of process, the culmination of twenty years of political theory journals where democracy was deliberation and deliberation was democracy.”

Looking at the Democratic Party during Trump 2.0, we still see remnants of deliberation above all. One famous example from last year is Senator Cory Booker’s (D-NJ) marathon speech in opposition to the actions of the Department of Government Efficiency. Other than setting the record for the longest recorded speech in Senate history, not much was accomplished. 

The nominee for the ambassador to NATO was confirmed; DOGE continued its illegal scrape of the U.S. government; and Trump remained in power. 

Even if one concedes that elected Democrats are limited in what they can accomplish legislatively, it does not excuse the misuse of the power they do have. Looking at the last government shutdown, which Republicans could have ended at any time, Democrats in both houses of Congress capitulated to the administration.

In a statement, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) used partisanship to defend her decision to vote to end the shutdown without a guaranteed extension on Affordable Care Act tax credits.

“Americans can’t afford for their Representatives to get so caught up in landing a partisan win that they abandon their obligation to come together to solve the urgent problems that our nation faces,” Gluesenkamp Perez wrote in the statement.

While she’s not wrong, it seems that the Democrats are the only ones who compromise. A byproduct of their preoccupation with deliberation is their preoccupation with the concept of bipartisanship at the expense of results. In prioritizing the process, they deprive the public of meaningful change. 

Since it seems that politicians are unwilling to counterbalance the president, the real power to stop the illegal and immoral acts of the executive office lies in the people. Education, protesting and protecting people in your community seem to be the only true ways to slow the fascist advancement by the Trump regime.

Instead of shaking your fist and saying, “he can’t do that,” it is more worthwhile to see what you can actually do, such as joining mutual aid groups and educating yourself on past resistance efforts.