Woo hoo, I put in tags for my posts. To paraphrase Kurt Vonnegut, perhaps from “Breakfast of Champions,” never write your own index (or do your own tags). It’s too revealing. Who knows, maybe opening comments will be next (hint: no, it won’t be).
I am in Atlanta, and my airplane book for the short hop was Garry Wills’ most excellent “Bomb Power.” I don’t give away too much by re-stating the thesis, that the invention of the atomic bomb substantively changed how the nation state approaches national security. Sort of makes sense; indeed, it seems an outgrowth of what I glean from Diamond’s narrative in “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.” When we have enough resources, we have the freedom to organize, to get more freedom. Of course, there comes a point at which we war with other societies, for whatever reason. Then we organize to keep the freedom we have, even if we have to give up some freedom in the process (nicely captured by the mantra “Freedom isn’t free,” which I think is a bit more subtle than its adherents often claim). (more…)