Josh on “Homeland”

Josh Marshall, “Homeland” And Other Un-American Words and Ideas:

But the ‘homeland defense’ concept was always closely tied to creating a missile shield over the United States. And when I poked around a little further to try to find the earliest uses of the phrase in this context the earliest ones all traced back to Reagan missile defense initiative in the 1980s.

I never heard it used as a word referring to our country until after September 11. And it’s made my stomach hurt ever since.

The word makes me feel as if I’ve fallen through to a parallel world, one where the simplistic things said about America in college freshman dorm rooms by the newly engagé are actually all true.