Andrew Bacevich is a conservative professor of International Relations at Boston University. Last night, in a remarkably candid interview on Bill Moyer’s Journal, he harshly criticized the emergence since World War II of the U.S. national security state.
At the core of his argument, Bacevich argues that Congress has lost the ability to articulate the common good. Congress exists today primarily to insure the re-election of Members of Congress.
But, as Congress has moved to the margins of power and abrogated its constitutional responsibilities, it has thrust power to the Executive Branch and created an Imperial Presidency. This imperial presidency embodies all the elements of a national security state. Yet it has become increasingly ineffective in protecting America, as 9/11 has demonstrated.
Bacevich sees the advance of the Imperial Presidency and its national security apparatus as a direct threat to the integrity of American democracy and the long term survival of freedom.
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