Tag Archives | Democracy

National Endowment for Democracy’s Shameless Vote Racketeering

Allen Weinstein, the first chief of the National Endowment for Democracy, died yesterday. The logo to the left illustrates some of the anti-government protest movements that the Endowment helped bankroll (courtesy of the Voltaire Network).  But helping topple foreign regimes that refused to kowtow to Washington has done little to advance self-government around the world.  Ron […]

Continue Reading

King John Butchered Authors of Magna Charta

… or at least he tried to butcher them.  On this day 800 years ago, King John was compelled to sign Magna Charta, formally accepting a limit to his prerogative to ravage everything in England.  But the ink on his signature was barely dry before he brought in foreign forces and tried to wipe out […]

Continue Reading
usa today illustration 635539821520082492-AP-CONGRESS-SPENDING-69393642

FFF: Know-Nothing Democracy on Capitol Hill

Future of Freedom, March 2015 (posted  5/22/15) Know-Nothing Democracy on Capitol Hill by James Bovard “You can lead a man to Congress but you can’t make him think,” quipped Milton Berle in 1950. Last December’s congressional approval of the 1,603-page, $1.1 trillion omnibus bill (known as “Cromnibus,” because it was also a Continuing Resolution) also […]

Continue Reading

Counterpunch: Will Vagina Voters Devour Democracy?

 COUNTERPUNCH, MAY 12, 2015 Has Hillary Finally Found Her Brand? Will “Vagina Voters” Devour Democracy? by JAMES BOVARD Wear gloves on Election Day! “Fat-O-Sphere” author Kate Harding announced plans to “vote with my vagina” for Hillary Clinton. Harding said  her voting was guided in part by her difficult menstrual cycles. I wonder who she would vote […]

Continue Reading

Will Vagina Voters Devour Democracy?

Wear gloves on Election Day! “Fat-O-Sphere” author Kate Harding announced plans to “vote with my vagina” for Hillary Clinton. Harding said  her voting was guided in part by her difficult menstrual cycles. I wonder who she would vote for if she was suffering from hemorrhoids. (Coincidentally, Mike Huckabee entered the presidential race this week.) According to […]

Continue Reading
devils dictionary book cover 11

USA Today: My Devil’s Dictionary

USA TODAY    April 13, 2015 Tax-time devil’s dictionary of DC lingo by James Bovard Having trouble with the ‘Washingtonese’ around April 15? Look no further for a translation. April 15 is the day each year when Americans are most likely to slander Washington. Unfortunately, the city’s nebulous nomenclature deters citizens from recognizing exactly how well […]

Continue Reading
Freedom-in-Chains

Freedom in Chains Epigrams

EPIGRAMS from Freedom in Chains: The Rise of the State & the Demise of the Citizen (1999) There is no trigger guard on political ambition. Each law enacted in a momentary panic is a permanent conquest for the State. The surest effect of exalting government is to make it easier for some people to drag others […]

Continue Reading