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I've posted this link before and I really wish more people were familiar with it. "Democracy Versus The National Security State" (1976) by the late Marcus Raski

I've posted this link before and I really wish more people were familiar with it. "Democracy Versus The National Security State" (1976) by the late Marcus Raskin is only 32 pages long but it's an excellent overview of the history of the rise of arbitrary and unaccountable power in the US after WWII. It's also quite the prophetic work. "We shall see that the national security state and the rule of law are mortal enemies. In the first place, by its nature and the mission which it has set for itself, the national security state apparatus needs arbitrary power. Such power has its own code, which is meant to govern or justify the behavior of the initiated—after the fact. It operates to protect the state apparatus from the citizenry." [0] [0] https://archive.org/details/democracy-versus-the-national-security-state/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/democracy-versus-the-national-se...

dredmorbius 3y ago
Raskin's bio, for those curious: Marcus Goodman Raskin (April 30, 1934 – December 24, 2017) was an American progressive social critic, political activist, author, and philosopher. He was the co-founder, with Richard Barnet, of the progressive think tank the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC. He was also a professor of public policy at The George Washington University’s School of Public Policy and Public Administration.... Notably: In 1971, Raskin received from Daniel Ellsberg, documents that became known as the Pentagon Papers. Raskin put Ellsberg in touch with New York Times reporter Neil Sheehan. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Raskin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Raskin> And father of Rep. Jamie Raskin, as noted at Archive.org.
- celtoid 3y ago
  IIRC, Marcus Raskin also coined the term "national security state".
  - dredmorbius 3y ago
    Interesting. Apparently in The Politics of National Security (1979), see the back-cover blurb. Internet Archive appear to have garbled metadata for that book with another, unfortunately: <https://archive.org/details/politicsofnation0000rask https://archive.org/details/politicsofnation0000rask>

dredmorbius 3y ago

Raskin's bio, for those curious: Marcus Goodman Raskin (April 30, 1934 – December 24, 2017) was an American progressive social critic, political activist, author, and philosopher. He was the co-founder, with Richard Barnet, of the progressive think tank the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC. He was also a professor of public policy at The George Washington University’s School of Public Policy and Public Administration.... Notably: In 1971, Raskin received from Daniel Ellsberg, documents that became known as the Pentagon Papers. Raskin put Ellsberg in touch with New York Times reporter Neil Sheehan. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Raskin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Raskin> And father of Rep. Jamie Raskin, as noted at Archive.org.

celtoid 3y ago
IIRC, Marcus Raskin also coined the term "national security state".
- dredmorbius 3y ago
  Interesting. Apparently in The Politics of National Security (1979), see the back-cover blurb. Internet Archive appear to have garbled metadata for that book with another, unfortunately: <https://archive.org/details/politicsofnation0000rask https://archive.org/details/politicsofnation0000rask>