President Obama and a heap of other politicians are imploring us to view voting as the ultimate expression of our freedom and self-government. The reality is that the vast majority of politicians will do as they damn well please after Election Day. Edward Snowden’s revelations should have been a battering ram to use against […]
Tag Archives | Elective Dictatorship
Killing in Lieu of Surveilling
Washington Post cartoonist Tom Toles deserves another Pulitzer Prize for this superb cartoon. Some people are singing hallelujahs over the Supreme Court’s recent decision that police cannot automatically search people’s cell phones. However, the Supreme Court has done nothing to negate the government’s prerogative to kill people based on secret memos, secret evidence, and utter bunk. […]
New Republic Gets Libertarians All Wrong
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 […]
Wash. Times: Our Cluster Bomb Congress Plants Legislative IEDs
BOVARD Our cluster-bomb Congress plants legislative IEDs Arcane laws lie dormant until exploding under unsuspecting Americans by James Bovard Tens of thousands of Americans have been bushwhacked by a single arcane sentence in a 673-page law Congress enacted six years ago. The Internal Revenue Service is seizing both federal and state tax refunds for individuals […]
Hillary Clinton’s Legacy: Democracy in Egypt
A front page Washington Post piece revealed today that Hillary Clinton is racing to finish her memoir so that she can define her legacy in time for her 2016 presidential run. Shortly after Hillary Clinton became Secretary of State, she promised to reform foreign aid. Egypt has gotten billions of aid in the meantime – […]
Nixon’s Resignation & the Era of Lawless Presidents
This is the anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974. Nixon knew that his defense was doomed and chose to throw in the towel without a Senate trial. But President Gerald Ford compounded the damage from Nixon’s presidency when he issued a sweeping pardon of Nixon that practically condemned future generations of Americans to […]
Germans Recognize Danger of U.S. Surveillance
Germans instinctively understand the danger of government surveillance far better than do many Americans. (Or at least far better than Obama apologists.) This photograph is from a recent anti-Obama rally in Hanover – one of my favorite German cities. The “V for Vendetta” mask is especially appropriate.
