What conservatives? My type? Absolutely not! Both are de facto "big government" and that is something true conservatives abhor. The last time it very nearly occurred was under FDR. In fact, it did occur. It lasted thirteen years. It is amazing what people will give up and what they will allow "government" to do and control when they are afraid.

Very interesting! And well worth the +5 points for posting this question. Perhaps we should put it a little more into perspective here: This measure was but one out of a very long list of virtually EVERY possible action that the President considered, indeed MUST consider, when deciding upon a course of action for our nation in response to being attacked. To have NOT been included in that long list would have been irresponsible, ignorant, or foolhardy at best. At worst it would have been criminally negligent. I know I'm probably going to be seriously DR'd by many for my comments here, but the fact remains that when America was attacked on September 11, 2001, this country was virtually on the brink of a no-shit WAR, the like of which hadn't been seen since WWII. Perhaps even closer to war than during the Cuban Missile Crisis, because in this case we were actually attacked, not just threatened. And by war, I mean a Congressionally declared war as outlined and authorized by the U.S. Constitution. Not a "police action". Not a limited military engagement. That would have mobilized the ENTIRE NATION and shifted our entire industrial capacity and economy towards one goal, and one goal only: war and whatever it takes to win it. At that time it had been nearly 6 decades since we last fought on that scale and level of effort. For those of you who do not realize what it truely means, I invite you to do a little research on the resources required and the demands the population must somehow live with. Food rationing. Gas rationing. Growing your own foods to support the war effort. Collecting and saving virtually EVERY scrap of recyclable material (from aluminum foil to junk cars, plastics, glass, EVERYTHING). Air raid drills. Routine blackouts. Censureship of letters to and from loved ones in the military. Tightly controlled information releases to the media. Censureship of the media. And it only gets more involved and more difficult as you go. THIS is a hint of what it takes to fight and win a total war. Our founding fathers, having just come out of a major war for our independence, realized this and THAT is why the power to DECLARE war was given to Congress, why the control of the military was given to the President, why Congress has the power and authority to suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus, and why it falls under the jurisdiction of the President to declare varying degrees of Martial Law. (NOTE: You will notice that I said Martial Law falls under the JURISDICTION of the President. This is because though the Constitution does not specifically grant that power, it DOES grant the President power over the military. To say that an area is under martial law means that it is under the control of the military. http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_mlaw.html) When our nation's security is threatened, or directly attacked, it is the unenviable job of the President to consider ALL options available to him, from the lowest level (do nothing) to the utmost level (total warfare). If he fails to consider all options, he is not doing his job. This is not abandoning the Constitution. It's part of the Constitution. Like it or not. Believe it or not. Agree with it or not. Those are the facts. Are CONSERVATIVES in favor of martial law? Hardly. No more so than any other group of people, I would say. And historically speaking, our nation has been under varying degrees of Martial Law several times, not even taking into account the Civil War. The last example I can think of was New Orleans in 2005. But the really cool thing is that in our nation, Martial Law is not a permanent state. It ceases when the need is gone or if enough citizens do not agree that it is necessary. The power of the people, those who choose to act anyway, should NOT be underestimated.

Where did you hear this? Please post the link so I can see it.

Conservatives want to uphold the constitution as it was written.

From my experience, I've noticed that the Constitution only seems to apply when it's being applied to the opposition party.