During his impeachment proceedings, Richard Nixon boasted, "I can
go into my office and pick up the telephone and in twenty-five
minutes seventy million people will be dead." Nixon was accurately
describing not only his own power but also the power of every
American president in the nuclear age.
Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon each
contemplated using nuclear weapons Eisenhower twice, Kennedy three
times, Johnson once, Nixon four times. Whether later presidents,
from Ford to Obama, considered using them we will learn only once
their national security papers are released.
In this incisive, masterfully argued new book, award-winning
social theorist Elaine Scarry demonstrates that the power of one
leader to obliterate millions of people with a nuclear weapon a
possibility that remains very real even in the wake of the Cold War
deeply violates our constitutional rights, undermines the social
contract, and is fundamentally at odds with the deliberative
principles of democracy.
According to the Constitution, the decision to go to war
requires rigorous testing by both Congress and the citizenry; when
a leader can single-handedly decide to deploy a nuclear weapon, we
live in a state of thermonuclear monarchy, not democracy.
The danger of nuclear weapons comes from potential accidents or
acquisition by terrorists, hackers, or rogue countries. But the
gravest danger comes from the mistaken idea that there exists some
case compatible with legitimate governance. There can be no such
case. Thermonuclear Monarchy shows the deformation of governance
that occurs when a country gains nuclear weapons.
In bold and lucid prose, Thermonuclear Monarchy identifies the
tools that will enable us to eliminate nuclear weapons and bring
the decision for war back into the hands of Congress and the
people. Only by doing so can we secure the safety of home
populations, foreign populations, and the earth itself."
General
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