USA TODAY, November 17, 2017 Thanksgiving travel: Trump’s holiday gift is more invasive airport security by James Bovard On the campaign trail last year, Donald Trump derided the Transportation Security Administration as a “total disaster.” But his administration is making TSA more intrusive and abusive while its 42,000 screeners remain as incompetent as ever. New TSA screening guidelines will likely make […]
Archive | November, 2017
Hysterical Responses to Anti-Hysteria Op-ed
My Hill oped, “Do Trump’s liberal critics seem increasingly unhinged?,” has spurred more than 3000 comments on the Hill website, where it was the most popular article mid-morning. Here are some of the thoughtful feedback from readers, along with some humorous ones at the bottom.
The Hill: Trump’s Liberal Critics Increasingly Unhinged?
The Hill, November 14, 2017 Do Trump’s liberal critics seem increasingly unhinged? By James Bovard, opinion contributor Last week’s anniversary of Trump’s election sparked widespread teeth-gnashing by the nation’s pundits. Trump is supposedly the gravest threat to American democracy since the secession of the Confederacy. His presidency, probably, continues to be a boon for antidepressant […]
Political Accounting Makes Paternalism a Mirage
The following essay is excerpted from Freedom in Chains (1999) and was also published in The Freeman in September 1999. I tweaked a few sentences but have otherwise not corrected glaring flaws. * Many federal agents have zero curiosity about the impact of their actions on private citizens. Collateral damage voids no pensions. Political Accounting […]
USA TODAY: More Iron Fists to Save Democracy?
USA TODAY, November 8, 2017 Trump election anniversary and progressives’ delusional race to save democracy by James Bovard Some liberals think increasing government power will repair our broken civic life. But it would destroy the tattered remnants of federal legitimacy. Responding to the anniversary of Donald Trump’s election, The Washington Post Magazine presented “38 ideas for […]
Communist Burlesque: The Comecon Trade Trainwreck
Mises Institute, November 6, 2017 International Trade Under the Soviets: A Comedy of Errors by James Bovard One of Ludwig von Mises’ great contributions to modern thought was his proof of the inability of economic calculation under socialism. This core truth should be recalled as many leftists seek to restore communism’s cachet. Perhaps nothing more […]
Property and Liberty
On the hundredth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, here’s an essay I wrote on why private property rights are the foundation of individual liberty. Where private property rights are nullified, people live at the mercy of bureaucrats and politicians. This spinoff from my 1999 book Freedom in Chains, was published by the Freeman in 2000 […]
Jim Bovard
Thanks very much, Ron! Ping pong balls can provi
Ron Redrift
'[T]he American Federation of Government Empl