American Conservative, June 24, 2021 The ‘Conspiracy Theory’ Charade How government and media use the phrase to suppress opposition.by by James Bovard Biden’s “National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism” report last week declared that “enhancing faith in American democracy” requires “finding ways to counter the influence and impact of dangerous conspiracy theories.” In recent decades, conspiracy […]
Google notified that my article from 20 years ago was recently reposted so I will run it up the flagpole here as well. That piece was partially spun off from my 1999 book, Freedom in Chains (St. Martin’s Press. Here is a paragraph from that book that did not make it into the article below: […]
The latest hubbub over whether slavery was the sole cause of the Civil War reminded me of this article on how modern governments have connived to seize unlimited power over citizens. The Declaration of Independence was clear that Americans rights pre-existed the creation of government. But today’s Statists see government as the fount of all rights. What […]
UPDATE: Here are some perhaps improved versions of a few lines in the following essay (thanks to Twitter space limits): Government worship tautology: because government has almost boundless power, it is presumably the source of all rights. *A good definition of liberty must provide a barricade that 10,000 federal agents cannot breach. *Tax burdens are […]
I don’t know about other political skeptics, but I certainly don’t recognize myself in this New Republic portrayal of folks who distrust the government. I’ve never taken an AR-15 to bed even when I was liquored up bad. And choosing Cass Sunstein to review Richard Epstein is a hoot. I first sparred with Sunstein when […]
