My second favorite way of spending a day off is working in my wood shop, listening to NPR. I did just that for most of yesterday and, as usual, I learned a little more about all the knowledge I don't have. There are some extremely intelligent people out there paying attention to how the world works. Case in point: Chalmers Johnson was on Talk of the Nation discussing his latest book Nemesis. It's his third of three books on the American Empire and it's definitely going on my ever growing list of must-reads. I had previously read a couple of Johnson's essays on-line, but this was the first time I had heard him speak. I was quite impressed, the word erudite kept coming to mind while I was listening to the interview.

Johnson rightly believes that democracy and empire are incompatible and sees our constitutional form of government in peril because we have allowed the military-industrial complex that Eisenhower warned of in his farewell address to become ever more powerful and integral to our economy. For those who argue that the US is not an Empire, Johnson points to the 737 US military bases world-wide as proof of a de facto empire. He sees our ever-increasing militarism coupled with an erosion of the separation of powers between the branches of our government as potential signs of a coming imperial presidency or military dictatorship. His arguments are very persuasive. NPR has a good excerpt from his book on their website.

The president now dominates the government in a way no ordinary monarch possibly could. He has at his disposal the clandestine services of the CIA, a private army unaccountable to the Congress, the press, or the public because everything it does is secret. No president since Harry Truman, having discovered what unlimited power the CIA affords him, has ever failed to use it.

Johnson often compares our situation right now to that of the Roman Republic (on which our form of government is based) which ultimately decided to give up democracy in favor of the Roman Empire. Another snippet:

If the American democratic system is no longer working as planned, if the constitutional checks and balances as well as other structures put in place by the founders to prevent tyranny are increasingly less operational, we have not completely lacked for witnesses of every stripe, domestic and foreign. General Tommy Franks, commander of the American assault on Baghdad, for instance, went so far as to predict that another serious terrorist attack on the United States would "begin to unravel the fabric of our Constitution," and under such circumstances, he was open to the idea that "the Constitution could be scrapped in favor of a military form of government." The historian Kevin Baker feared that we are no longer far from the day when, like the Roman Senate in 27 B.C., our Congress will take its last meaningful vote and turn over power to a military dictator. "In the end, we'll beg for the coup," he wrote.

That's some scary stuff there, and a year or so ago I would have readily agreed that we as a nation were headed down that path, but dubya has so fucked up everything he touches that I now think even the average citizen can see the presidency needs a little reining in. Johnson mentioned something else that might help us move back in the direction of open democracy and a constitutionally balanced government, although in a thoroughly unpleasant way. He spoke of an impending national bankruptcy and world-wide recession. Brr.