A word on Philip Bobbitt and the Market State. Bobbit is not offering a prescription: he is telling us what is happening. Whether we are trying to bring it about or trying to avoid it, this is where we are headed. This isn’t a question of rewriting our Constitution, but about how the unwritten part is interpreted. We’ve been busy reinterpreting the Constition for two hundred years. With our labor laws (and other regulations) we’ve all but shredded the “no interference in private contracts” clause and we’ve suffered penumbras all over one of the best social contracts ever written. (Its biggest flaw may be that the Houses of Congress are allowed to write their own rules of order.)

Bobbitt certainly does NOT believe that history began in the twentieth century; The Shield of Achilles begins back in the era that birthed Machiavelli. What he does is trace how we got where we are and observe where we changed how we do things. And he observes that changes are happening now.

If you are judging The Shield of Achilles and Terror and Consent by what others have written, I suggest that you read them yourself. Don’t let yourself react to hot-button phrases. Instead, refute the arguments, if you can. And be sure that you understand–really understand–the introduction to ToA before you dive into the text. Read it as many times as it takes. Miss the point of the intro, and you are likely to miss the point of the whole book.