Joseph Heller wisely said “just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you”, and that’s pivotally important in today’s world. Trump’s blather about a ‘Deep State’ out to get him is paranoid raving at best, but there is indeed a governmental structure below and beyond what we were taught in civics class. And it does indeed have real effects in the real world…
”American Coup- How a terrified government is destroying the Constitution”
By William M. Arkin
From the Federation of American Scientists’ review of William Arkin’s ‘American Coup’… “What concerns Arkin, and what his book helps to illuminate, is what he describes as a parallel apparatus of executive authority that has developed outside of Constitutional norms (and beyond public awareness) to respond to national emergencies– catastrophic acts of terrorism, nuclear disasters, threats to presidential survival, or other extraordinary events.
Some of this is familiar ground, and has been previously described under the rubric of Continuity of Government, or Continuity of Operations, dating back to the Eisenhower Administration. But it has expanded and been formalized, Arkin says, in a series of classified Presidential Emergency Action Documents (PEADs) that assert all but unchecked executive power. And while those administrative instruments are technically dormant most of the time, they exercise a baleful influence on the normal conduct of political life, he argues.
Despite its garish and off-putting title (and subtitle: “How a Terrified Government is Destroying the Constitution”), “American Coup” is not a manifesto, nor a call to action. What makes the book interesting and valuable, rather, is its close reading of official documents in search of clues to undisclosed power structures. Arkin is a careful student and a subtle analyst of military doctrine, a neglected genre rich with insights waiting to be discovered. For some readers, the 100 pages of endnotes will be the most rewarding part of the book.”
