William Norman Grigg, author of the blog Pro-Libertate and the book Liberty in Eclipse: The War on Terror and the Rise of the Homeland Security State, discusses the tragic death of the old American understanding of limited constitutional government under the rule of law: the ever increasing power of the presidency, the case of Jose Padilla, the absurdity of Christians approving of torture, the Milgram torture and Zimbardo prison experiments, the militarization and federalization of American police forces, the brutality and cowardice of the Denver Police Department, the impossibility of living under a republic while maintaining an empire, the horrible War on Drugs and its consequences for liberty and law, our neo-Benthemian surveillance state, the possibility of that most dangerous mix of conscription and military forces deployed in America, and some hope for the future.

MP3 here. (73:28)

William Norman Grigg writes the blog Pro Libertate and is the author of the book Liberty in Eclipse: The War on Terror and the Rise of the Homeland Security State.

Jeff Huber, blogger at Pen and Sword and At-Largely and author of Bathtub Admirals, discusses the empire’s disaster in Iraq, the danger of the Afghan occupation spreading into Pakistan, the unconstitutional “war powers act,” the difficulty of being an empire with no one but defenseless people to fight, the John McCain pathology of trying to win the Vietnam war by killing Iraqis, the so-called clash of civilizations and the pure evil that is Dick Cheney.

MP3 here. (34:21)

Commander Jeff Huber, U.S. Navy (Retired) commanded an E-2C Hawkeye squadron and was operations officer of a Navy air wing and an aircraft carrier. Jeff’s essays have been required reading at the U.S. Naval War College where he earned a master of arts degree in neoconservative studies in 1995. His satires on military and foreign policy affairs appear at Military.com, Aviation Week and Pen and Sword. Jeff’s novel Bathtub Admirals, a lampoon of America’s rise to global dominance, is on sale now.