The introduction to Gary Wills"Bomb Power" posits that the "Bomb" altered our subsequent history down to its deepest constitutional roots."Commander in Chief",after the creation of the fission bombs,took on a new and unconstitutional meaning.It redefined the government as a National Security State,with an apparatus of secrecy and executive control.The "Bomb" made only one part of the government the supreme power and all must defer to it,for the good of the nation.It all grew out of the Manhattan Project,secretly funded,and was a model for the covert activities and overt authority of the government we now experience.Congress was kept in the dark,Harry Truman(Vice President) was also never told until he became President.The National Security State,according to Wills,articulated itself in various intelligence agencies,the CIA,NSA,the programs of classification and clearance,the new doctrines of executive power or presidential signing statements that nullified laws passed by Congress.State secrets multiplied beyond the power to clear them for release or for the courts to demand their production.
In the past,wartime had led to suspensions of various parts of the constitution(loyalists in the revolution,Lincoln cancelled habes corpus in the Civil War,Japanese-Americans in WWII).After the "Bomb" was built,for the first time in our history,the President was given sole and unconstrained authority over all possible uses of the Bomb.The President has the sole authority to launch nation-destroying weapons,he has license to use every other power at his disposal that might safeguard that supreme necessity.
Vice-President Cheney used these facts to justify the policies of the Bush administration on a whole range of issues(warrant less surveillance,indefinite detention of suspects,kidnappings across the world and enhanced interrogation).He was right to say that the logic for all these things is the President's solitary control of the Bomb.Executive power has been,since WWII,Bomb power.
More from Will's"Bomb Power" shortly.
A good example of how our government is getting a bit too powerful. The power should be among the people. Government should fear the people, not the other way around.
ReplyDeleteWe do have SOME power when it comes to elections, BUT, once voted into office, many of our officials simply do as they please anyway, regardless of any 'promises' they may have made.
We The People should be able to continue voting after the close of the elections. We should be able to vote on individual issues as they arise.
At GovTogether, we're trying to make that idea a reality. We want to build a web-based system that would allow ordinary people like you and me a chance to have our say (meaning 'vote') on each new issue. But first, we need The People to show that they would want such a system.
If you are one of those people, come to our site and show your support with a quick vote. The more votes we get, the better our chances are of making this system a reality.
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