Tag Archives | Elections

Bogus-fears-can-produce-real-servitude.-If-America-is-to-have-a-rebirth-of-liberty,-it-must-begin-with-a-rebirth-of-courage.(1)

Fear-Mongering and Servitude (2011)

Freeman, June 2011 Fear-Mongering and Servitude  by  James Bovard In his 1776 essay, “Thoughts on Government,” John Adams observed, “Fear is the foundation of most governments; but it is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable, that Americans will not be likely to approve […]

Continue Reading
mises-newsletter-bomb

Mises: The Great Democracy Scam of 2016

Mises Institute The Austrian Newsletter The Great Democracy Scam of 2016 by James Bovard No matter who wins the presidential election next month, the media and the political class will whoop up the result as another triumph of American democracy. Regardless that the winning candidate’s path to power was paved with lies and shenanigans, we […]

Continue Reading

Rand Paul Demise: Botched Campaign or Apathy on Freedom?

Rand Paul announced that he is suspending his presidential campaign this morning.  How much of the demise of the Rand Paul’s effort was due to poor campaign tactics vs. voters not giving a damn about freedom? In Iowa, Rand’s campaign targeted student voters.  But as David Weigel of the Washington Post noted, that tactic fizzled […]

Continue Reading

Iowa GOP Barnbusting Debate!

OK, so sue me for a using a misleading blog headline.  What the hell – at least I don’t need to watch any more debates this month.  My live tweets as the show went on… and on…. Disappointed that #GOPDebate candidates did not invoke "Judeo-Christian values" in the same sentence calling for carpet bombing — […]

Continue Reading

Democratic Debate Hoots & Huckstering

Tonight’s Democratic candidate debate was everything a cynic could have wished for.  Government retained its power to perform miracles, though no one explicitly promised that it could raise the dead. It is amazing to see how far & easily both Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley ran from their records in office.  Following are some of […]

Continue Reading
gop debate15n-web

GOP Slugfest – Saudis, Cigars, Treason, & Tweets

Damned unfortunate that Fox Business News blocked Rand Paul from the debate tonight in South Carolina. Here are Twitter messages as the candidates wrangled [ok, so the photo is a few months old – Carly didn’t make it to the main stage tonight but every other photo I considered  was painfully dull]   #GOPDebate Kasich: […]

Continue Reading
JPB-10-book-covers-web-version

Democracy, Liberty, Leviathan Epigrams /Tweets

Whittling today on some epigrams from my books – here are some new, improved, tighter versions [earlier versions of these lines are here] ** These epigrams are works-in-progress.  I welcome critical feedback – if you like or loathe any of these lines, let me know! Without a realistic concept of government, political philosophy is only […]

Continue Reading