Tag Archives | Lyndon Johnson

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Nixon’s Gold Treachery Made Me a Cynic

American Institute for Economic Research, August 13, 2021 Nixon’s Gold Treachery Made Me a Cynic James Bovard Fifty years ago, on August 15, 1971, President Richard Nixon announced that the U.S. government would cease honoring its pledge to pay gold to redeem the dollars held by foreign central banks. Nixon declared he was taking “action […]

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Biggest Lies of the Impeachment Saga

Mises Institute, February 20, 2021 The Biggest Lies of the Impeachment Saga by James Bovard The Senate impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump confirms historian Henry Adams’s adage a century ago that politics “has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.” The impeachment process was a farce that should fortify Americans’ disdain for Washington. Considering […]

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Extremism as a Ticket to Tyrannize

“Extremism” as a Ticket to Tyrannize by James Bovard “Extremists” are one of the famous bogeymen that American politicians invoke to sanctify their own power. But the definition of “extremism” has forever been in flux. The only consistent element in definitions of extremism is that politicians always win. In the 1770s, people who suggested that […]

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USA TODAY: Neither Trump Nor Biden Deserve Honeymoon from Cynicism

USA TODAY,  October 31, 2020 Neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden deserve a honeymoon from cynicism by James Bovard “The biggest threat to our democracy is cynicism,” declared former president Barack Obama two years ago. But as we enter the final days of another demagoguery-drenched presidential campaign, it is time to give cynicism the credit it […]

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The Voting Rights Mirage

American Conservative, October 19, 2020 The Voting Rights Mirage by James Bovard The most dangerous political illusion is that votes limit politicians’ power. Americans have been endlessly hectored in recent months to cast their votes in the presidential election. But trusting ballots to leash either Donald Trump or Joe Biden would be the ultimate triumph […]

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Veterans Day: The Lost Soldier I Met at the Baltimore Bus Station

Baltimore Sun, November 9, 2018 On Veterans Day, I remember ‘Bobie’ from Baltimore by James Bovard Veterans Day is a time for parades and tributes to those who served in America’s armed services. But most celebrations ignore the human carnage that inevitably follows when politicians send their fellow citizens off to foreign wars. Considering the […]

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Podcast: Hitchhiking to an Antiwar Awakening

Here’s the 7 minute story of how my hitchhiking follies led to my antiwar awakening via a drunken Vietnam war vet in a desolate, dicey Baltimore bus station. I welcome critical feedback on how to notch up future podcasts. Just a little overlap between the video and my oped last week in the Baltimore Sun […]

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