Negotiable Collateral Damage

By Richard Dickens

The United States, by virtue of its democratic system, finds itself torn at times between the defense of its physical security on one hand and the defense of civil liberties on the other. Through the democratic political process, the US government has developed a pattern of behavior for responding to threats to national security. This pattern of behavior includes six typical phases. The author labels these phases as threat or crisis, othering, response, normalcy, restoration, and remorse. After detecting a threat to national security, the primary national identity shrinks to identify "others" against which action can be taken. Those "others" in the history of the United States include aliens and French loyalists in the 1790's, Southern secessionists in the 1860's, Japanese descendants in the 1940's, American communists during the Second Red Scare, and radical Islamic terrorists after 9/11. Once the threat passes and normalcy resumes, the national identity expands again to encompass the previous "others" and the government restores civil liberties to all. Often, the process includes remorse over the action taken during the crisis.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1025112725
• ISBN13: 9781025112725
• Release Date: May 2025
• Publisher: Hutson Street Press
• Length: 116 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.1" x 9.2"