1. ’Twas brillig, and the slithy troves

2. Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

3. All mimsy were the borogoves

4. And the mome raths outgrabe.

5. Jabberwocky Lewis Carroll

1. When arms speak, the laws are silent.

2. Cicero (1979, Pro Milone IV. xi)

So far, the story has been one of the fatally impractical division of the sovereign’s war powers that led to congressional incapacity and presidential tyranny. A constitutional amendment to establish a fourth branch of government to exercise the fœderative power then became the obvious solution. This solution was achieved, however, by a simple substitution of positive values for negative values. Once the impractical division is corrected by vesting the fœderative power in a Council on War and Peace, capacity returns; tyranny is overcome, and the rule of law is restored during time of war as well as peace. This process of substitution no doubt provides an excellent solution, but it makes for a very poor explanation of how and why the substitution restores the rule of law. Instead of an explanation, one finds an unsubstantiated claim that the rule of law is superior to the rule of men. The claim is no doubt commonsense; it is surely the firm faith of many. Winston Churchill certainly captured its commonsense essence when, during the Commons debate to amend the Parliament Act of 1911, he took the floor at 3:40 pm on Tuesday, 11 November 1947, and said, “Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time” (Churchill 1947, 206–7). True enough, but Churchill has provided a bon mot, a quip, not an explanation.