The Four Freedoms under Siege: The Clear and Present Danger from Our National Security State

(Hardback)

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The authors address the hard questions of individual freedom versus national security that are on the minds of Americans of all political stripes. They bring together the pivotal events, leaders, policies, and fateful decisionsoften path-breaking, more often ending in follythat have subverted our constitutional government from its founding. You reach the inescapable conclusion, the authors write, that the United States is a warrior nation, has been addicted to war from the start, and is able to sustain its warfare habit only by mugging American taxpayers, and believing in its mission as God's chosen. FDR's Four FreedomsFreedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fearwere presented to the American people in his 1941 State of the Union address, and they became the inspiration for a second bill of rights, extending the New Deal and guaranteeing work, housing, medical care, and education. Although the bill never was adopted in a legal sense in this country, its principles pervaded the political landscape for an entire generation, including the War on Poverty and the Great Society reforms of the 1960s. Furthermore, the ideas expressed in the Four Freedoms speech inspired the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But since the late 1970s and early 1980s, these freedoms have been under assault, from presidential administrations of both parties, economic pressures, and finally, the alleged requirements of national security. After 9/11, this process accelerated even more rapidly.

Reviews

Raskin and Spero present a powerful indictment of the seemingly inexorable march of the US toward becoming a national security state in the latter half of the 20th century and most dramatically since 9/11. America has always had a tendency toward triumphalism and militarism, but in recent decades, and particularly under the current administration, these tendencies have increasingly undercut the core values of democracy and personal freedom. The reader is led through the government's systematic rejection of Roosevelt's Four Freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. The authors decry unprecedented government secrecy and monitoring of the populace, increased poverty and economic disparity, and perpetual state of fear promoted by those in power--multiple attributes of a failed imperial state.[t]he authors' alternative vision of American democracy is visionary and serves as a useful foil for criticism of the existing state. Recommended. General readers and undergraduates. * Choice *
Raskin and Spero take off from Franklin Delano Roosevelts proclamation of the Four Freedoms in his annual message to Congress, January 6, 1941 and apply them to present day America. These four freedoms are the freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. It is not a pretty picture. It can be changed, and this book contains wise words for such liberations. * Ralph Nader's Holiday Reading List Nader.org *
While George W. Bush proclaims regularly that his War on Terror is being fought for the advance of freedom, Raskin and Spero argue that his expansion of the national security state (a term first used by Raskin to describe Cold War America in 1967) is in fact undermining the four freedoms delineated by Franklin Roosevelt in his 1941 State of the Union address: freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. They touch upon a wide range of issues in making their argument, including the PATRIOT Act, misconceptions about terrorism, voting rights violations, the religious right, economic inequality, and the mobilization of fear in the name of the War on Terror. * Reference & Research Book News *

Author Bio

Marcus Raskin is the distinguished fellow and cofounder of the Institute for Policy Studies, the first think tank of its kind. He is also Professor of Policy Studies at George Washington University, a member of the editorial board of the Nation, and author or editor of 20 books, including In Democracy's Shadow (2005), edited with Carl Le Van, and Liberalism (2004). Robert Spero, author of The Duping of the American Voter: Dishonesty & Deception in Presidential Advertising, served with the Agency for International Development during the Kennedy administration and the President's domestic Peace Corps group. He is a journalist (Present Tense, the Progressive), consultant to international service organizations, and former advertising executive (Ogilvy & Mather).