The Floor of the World

Abstract

This book excerpt argues that the growth of nuclear weapons technology has concentrated the power to kill entire populations in the executive branch and made the US president effectively an elected monarch. A president, a Congress, or a Supreme Court could remedy this situation, but unless they act, the author writes, the US population will have to reacquire its powers of self-government by insisting on a re-establishment of the constitutional and social compacts under which the United States was founded.