Here’s a round-up of my epigrams on voting from my books and articles since 1993:
*Politicians are dividing America into two classes – those who work for a living and those who vote for a living
*Nowadays, we have elections in lieu of freedom.
*What government abuses and crimes can we expect to cease as a result of 100 million people voting today?
*A successful politician is often merely someone who conned more voters than the other liar on the ballot.
*Instead of revealing the “will of the people,” election results are often only a one-day snapshot of transient mass delusions.
*The biggest election frauds usually occur before the voting booths open.
*America needs fewer laws, not more prisons.
*Voting is far more likely to sanctify politicians’ power than to curb their abuses.
*The more confused people’s political thinking becomes, the easier it is for rulers to invoke democracy to destroy freedom.
*Federal secrecy is ravaging American democracy. There is no such thing as retroactive self-government.
*In politics, ‘positive thinking’ is often a slave’s virtue that deludes people about the chains placed upon them.
*The ability to push a lever every few years is supposedly the only protection citizens’ rights and liberties need – or deserve”
*If rulers are above the law, citizens have the same freedom that slaves had on days when their masters chose not to beat them.
*Attention Deficit Democracy begets the arrogance and ignorance that paves the way to political collapse. [
*Equating democracy with liberty is as foolish as equating monarchs with God.
*Voting is often simply a political lottery ticket promising something for nothing.
*Modern democracy presumes that people can control what they do not understand.
*Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
*Paternalism is a desperate gamble that lying politicians will honestly care for those who fall under their power.
*A lie that is accepted by a sufficient number of ignorant voters becomes a political truth.
*Citizens should distrust politicians who distrust freedom.
*Voting is little more than an unreliable Kevlar jacket against political and bureaucratic assaults
*Truth is a lagging indicator in politics.
*The arrogance of power is the best hope for the survival of freedom.
*We need a constitutional amendment to make the federal government obey the Constitution.
*Rather than a democracy, we increasingly have an elective dictatorship in which people merely choose who will ravage the laws and the Constitution.
*We now have a political system which is nominally democratic but increasingly authoritarian.
*Trumpeting the importance of voting deludes people into thinking that they have a leash on the government.
*Voting is far more likely to sanctify politicians’ power than to curb their abuses.
*The worst violation of voting rights occurs when election winners trample the law and the Constitution.
*Voting often means trusting one’s life, liberty, & property to one of two candidates, neither of whom is trustworthy.
***
Americans are far more likely to be deluded on Election Day by their own government than by foreigners.
Election results are often only a one-day snapshot of transient mass delusions
Obama helped establish an Impunity Democracy in which rulers pay no price for their misdeeds.
Justice Dept. will alert Americans to foreign attempts to “subvert democracy” but there will still be no warnings for subversion by U.S. government agencies
We hear "government is us" but private citizens have no idea what the hell is going on in the White House regarding Syria. We have democracy except for vast killing abroad in our name.
— James Bovard (@JimBovard) April 12, 2018
Self-government and democracy are a farce when the US govt. claims it is entitled to total secrecy for the legal rationales for attacking a foreign nation https://t.co/P0AMuRxrEu
— James Bovard (@JimBovard) April 25, 2018
Federal secrecy is ravaging American democracy. We know little or nothing about U.S. foreign wars. But there is no such thing as retroactive self-government. https://t.co/lhtL864Q6O
— James Bovard (@JimBovard) May 9, 2018
Justice Dept. will alert Americans to foreign attempts to "subvert democracy" but there will still be no warnings for subversion by U.S. government agencies https://t.co/dT0TzsA1qc
— James Bovard (@JimBovard) July 19, 2018
HOOT! National Endowment for Democracy grantee compares U.S. interfering in foreign elections to "delivering lifesaving medicine" https://t.co/QqbQQ7JNSH
— James Bovard (@JimBovard) March 16, 2018
My Hill oped: George W. Bush is hailed nowadays but when he was president, he acted as if spreading democracy gave him a license to kill https://t.co/fmaD0rUZm6
— James Bovard (@JimBovard) February 15, 2018
From heresy to conventional wisdom? Excellent NYTimes series of articles on crisis of democracy leads with my quote: "Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner." https://t.co/nlrGuQqB4r
— James Bovard (@JimBovard) September 17, 2018
The #IGReport reveals the vast sway that federal agencies seek over what Americans are permitted to know. But democracy is a mirage when governments blindfold citizens. https://t.co/JWZNpczjyX
— James Bovard (@JimBovard) June 15, 2018
Trump is exposing the sham of a Leviathan Democracy which pretends presidents will be philosopher kings — instead of merely talented vote catchers https://t.co/Sb5DrL8S4Y
— James Bovard (@JimBovard) November 15, 2017
WashPost articles proposes fixing democracy by conscripting young people for 3 years to teach them how "to share our toys" https://t.co/uJUAcaov1Q
— James Bovard (@JimBovard) November 8, 2017
Wilson dragged the US into WWI, destroying freedom, sowing carnage, & failing to make democracy safe for the worldhttps://t.co/RDqCk7IKA6
— James Bovard (@JimBovard) April 4, 2017
Americans now embrace the same myths about democracy that downtrodden peasants formerly swallowed about monarchy.
— James Bovard (@JimBovard) August 28, 2015
Is American democracy in a death spiral? The belief in American exceptionalism blinds many people to the growing political decay.
— James Bovard (@JimBovard) October 31, 2012
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