The Obama administration proposals to nationalize banks are appalling. The Bush administration’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” TARP bailout of Wall Street was obscene. Once the feds started bankrolling the banks and other financial institutions, it was only a question of time until politicians claimed the right to control what they subsidize. It would have been […]
Obama Continuing Bush Coverups?
Though Obama thus far does not seem as bellicose as did George W. Bush, there are growing signs that his administration will continue the Washington tradition of covering up the crimes of his predecessors. The Obama administration is repeating the same arguments used by the Bush White House to justify whitewashing the illegal deletion or […]
Epigrams from Attention Deficit Democracy (2006)
Epigrams from Attention Deficit Democracy by James Bovard (Palgrave, 2006) Americans have devoted far more effort to spreading democracy than to understanding it. Modern democracy is far more effective at unleashing government than at protecting individuals. When people blindly assume that their leaders are trustworthy, the biggest liars win. Rather than a democracy, we increasingly […]
Epigrams from Freedom in Chains (1999)
EPIGRAMS from Freedom in Chains: The Rise of the State & the Demise of the Citizen (1999) + Comments or criticisms on the individual epigrams are welcome. ************************************************** There is no way to criminalize our way to utopia. Government is ourselves – armed with clubs. Paternalism is a desperate gamble that lying politicians will honestly […]
Bovard Book Title Contest -$100 prize
I am finishing up a new book and am seeking suggestions for a snappy book title. The book’s essays deal with the fraud of idealism, how truth is perverted in Washington, the political sanction for mass killing, why power corrupts, Leviathan-loving intellectuals, the fatal myths of democracy, and other cheery topics. My tentative title is […]
Epigrams from The Bush Betrayal (2004)
Here’s the second installment for Epigram Month. These are from The Bush Betrayal (Palgrave, 2004). Some of the Bush-specific epigrams will seem a bit dated, but then so is Bush. As with the first list I posted – I’d appreciate folks’ thoughts on whether any of the listed epigrams are clunkers and should be dropped. Are there […]
Happy 200th Birthday, Abe the Dictator!
Thursday is the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. I would be perplexed by the Lincoln cult if I thought the prime Lincoln idolizers gave a damn about individual liberty. Lincoln is lionized not because he saved self-government, but primarily because he sanctified and vastly extended Leviathan. Here is a riff I did on Lincoln for a National […]
