I saw George H.W. Bush give a speech in southern Illinois in early 1980 when he was campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination. His spiel was the usual campaign stump speech, with nothing memorable. However, after the speech, a young student at Southern Illinois University politely asked him about his role in the Trilateral Commission. […]
Tag Archives | Founding Fathers
Supreme Court: The Dog That Didn’t Bark
Mises Institute, September 26, 2018 The Supreme Court: The Dog that Didn’t Bark by James Bovard The furor over the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh is spurring many commentators to bewail that the Supreme Court has become too powerful. But the real problem is that the Court is now often little more than a fig leaf […]
The Hill: Comey’s Forgotten Lies as FBI Chief
The Hill, April 20, 2018 Comey’s book tour is all about ‘truth’ — but his FBI tenure, not so much by James Bovard In his ABC interview last Sunday, former FBI chief James Comey boasted endlessly of his devotion to truth, which he said “has to be central to our lives.” Touting his role in bringing […]
Democracy versus Liberty
Trump’s presidency is helping Americans recognize that voting is no guarantee for individual liberty. This is perhaps the most frequently forgotten lesson in politics. Many liberals were convinced that Obama’s election somehow made Americans’ constitutional rights safe, while many conservatives believed that Al Gore’s defeat in 2000 provided the same windfall. In reality, no president can be […]
Torture and Liberty (2008)
A decade ago, many Washington politicians and pundits pretended that torture was no peril to liberty. The Bush administration championed “enhanced interrogation” as a key to preserving public safety, and its apologists scoffed at anyone who objected to “getting tough” with suspected bad guys. When I gave a speech at the Foundation for Economic Education […]
FFF: The Mandatory Voting Panacea
from the July 2015 issue of The Future of Freedom The Mandatory Voting Panacea by James Bovard Barack Obama suggested on March 18, 2015, that mandatory voting could cure some of the ills of American democracy. He said that compelling everyone to vote would “encourage more participation” — perhaps the same way that the specter […]
