Comment Paper 3

Comment Paper 3

            Technology in warfare is not what has undermined our democracy.  I believe these advancements have only exacerbated an underlying, seemingly unnoticed problem to our government.  Since our founding fathers, the U.S. has strayed from our basis for democracy through new policy measures and the lack of citizen participation in national and even state government.  Many of the authors that we read blame Congress for the deficiency in the decision making process with warfare.  I entirely agree with this sentiment; it appears that Congress and our legislative process as a whole has not had the ability to keep up with the advancements of our time.  Whether our process in itself for legislation is too slow for such things is another problem in itself.  But I do believe that while Congress must make revisions and better hindsight, I also think the problem lies within the President himself.  Yes, Congress has given him this power, but is it not also alarming that he has chosen these actions subsequent to being granted these powers?  Should the President of the free world not want to abide by the long-standing traditions and laws that we have stood by for centuries?  This problem is bigger than just the advancement of technology, but this “robotic revolution” has certainly brought it to a head.

            To find a solution for this would not be easy.  Congress would have to revise how it deals with warfare decisions once again and also possibly the powers of the executive branch as a whole, however the latter is very unlikely.  This is similar to how Singer discusses a military “doctrine”.  Without any precedent on how to proceed with these new technological advancements, we lack any control on where the President (or otherwise) can take them.  “If you don’t know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else,” (Singer, 208).  We lack any continuity with the Constitution now because we have not set any standard or guide for these new found policies and decisions that must be made.  Drones have become a symbol for the centralized power that the government holds and shows just how little civilians remain involved in the important matters of our government and how it is managed.  Because there is a lack of accountability when using robots in the field, it seems that Congress and the President especially have found it unnecessary to inform the rest of the government, much less the public, or for us to have a say in these proceedings.  This belief is everything that is wrong with our government today and why we have slowly deteriorated our democratic system.  Technology has vastly changed the way we wage war, yet our government has not caught up and our people remain mostly ignorant.