{"product_id":"thermonuclear-monarchy-choosing-between-democracy-and-doom","title":"Thermonuclear Monarchy: Choosing Between Democracy and Doom","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom one of our leading social thinkers  a compelling case for the elimination of nuclear weapons. 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 weaponsEisenhower 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 weapona possibility that remains very real even in the wake of the Cold Wardeeply 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. 5 illustrations\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44986168868917,"sku":"ByrdShop_0393080080","price":28.46,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780393080087.jpg?v=1770890243","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/thermonuclear-monarchy-choosing-between-democracy-and-doom","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}