Thanks for your response! Re emergency and democracy--and surely important to keep in mind in the upcoming election--all U.S. presidents have access to the "emergency box" containing the Presidential Emergency Action Documents (PEADs)--a set of classified documents that U.S. presidents can use during national emergencies to invoke sweeping executive powers to manage "national crises," including the authority to take control over the military, communications, or other national resources. These documents are classified and their exact content remains largely unknown to the public. - It's unnerving to think of who gets to define a "national crisis" when this is a matter of executive judgment. ! - Yes, again, to Miłosz's "ordinary and peaceful aspects of life that persist . . ." Only because I learned about the horrific circumstances in which he wrote that did I dare quote this. - I appreciate very much the quality of your reflections, including your sobering reference to Schmidt.
Hey, thanks, Deb(orah!) - Great to hear from you again! You were certainly a godsend to all of us at Plymouth. - Yes, about Milosz. I recently rediscovered him, thank goodness.
Your reflections are something that I've often thought about, and you bring so much disparate material to develop your points.
From a political standpoint, I think a democracy becomes less tenable if we exist in states of emergency and if those emergencies become routine. We could find ourselves agreeing with Carl Schmidt's definition of the legitimate sovereign, which the Third Reich agreed with: the one who decides on the exception, i.e., the state of emergency. Democratic practice takes community (including a tacit agreement about what the real world entails), and democratic practice and community take time. Emergencies don't allow for deliberation and process and consensus.
And yes to the "ordinary and peaceful aspects of life that persist . . ."
Thanks for your response! Re emergency and democracy--and surely important to keep in mind in the upcoming election--all U.S. presidents have access to the "emergency box" containing the Presidential Emergency Action Documents (PEADs)--a set of classified documents that U.S. presidents can use during national emergencies to invoke sweeping executive powers to manage "national crises," including the authority to take control over the military, communications, or other national resources. These documents are classified and their exact content remains largely unknown to the public. - It's unnerving to think of who gets to define a "national crisis" when this is a matter of executive judgment. ! - Yes, again, to Miłosz's "ordinary and peaceful aspects of life that persist . . ." Only because I learned about the horrific circumstances in which he wrote that did I dare quote this. - I appreciate very much the quality of your reflections, including your sobering reference to Schmidt.
Hey, thanks, Deb(orah!) - Great to hear from you again! You were certainly a godsend to all of us at Plymouth. - Yes, about Milosz. I recently rediscovered him, thank goodness.
Your reflections are something that I've often thought about, and you bring so much disparate material to develop your points.
From a political standpoint, I think a democracy becomes less tenable if we exist in states of emergency and if those emergencies become routine. We could find ourselves agreeing with Carl Schmidt's definition of the legitimate sovereign, which the Third Reich agreed with: the one who decides on the exception, i.e., the state of emergency. Democratic practice takes community (including a tacit agreement about what the real world entails), and democratic practice and community take time. Emergencies don't allow for deliberation and process and consensus.
And yes to the "ordinary and peaceful aspects of life that persist . . ."
What a wonderful piece, Bill. Thank you especially for the introduction to Czesław Miłosz; the poem is going up on my refrigerator. Sending much love!