The “Officer Friendly” Police Fantasy by James Bovard Police in Tempe, Arizona, announced plans in July for a “positive ticketing” campaign to pull over drivers who had violated no traffic laws. A Phoenix TV station reported that the police would give the people they targeted free soft-drink coupons for Circle K as a reward for […]
One sentence from Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty (St. Martin’s Press, 1994) received far more mileage than I expected. “Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner” has been translated into 48 languages, quoted by the Hong Kong Chief Justice, and set the […]
This is the 25th anniversary of the publication of Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, which St. Martin’s Press described as a “bestseller” for at least a decade after its release. Thanks to everyone who bought the book and double-thanks to everyone who whooped it up. I especially want to thank folks who wrote […]
Mises Institute, February 7, 2019 Trump’s Absurd Claim that Americans Are Free from Government Coercion by James Bovard In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Trump received rapturous applause from Republicans for his declaration: “America was founded on liberty and independence — not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, […]
Mises Institute, January 17, 2019 FDR’s Worst Perversion of Freedom: The “Four Freedoms” Speech by James Bovard Franklin Roosevelt did more than any other modern president to corrupt Americans’ understanding of freedom. Last week was the 75th anniversary of his 1944 speech calling for a second Bill of Rights to guarantee economic freedom to Americans. […]
It’s a coin toss which is more damnably confounding – contemporary journalism or contemporary philosophy. Reminded of this conundrum by the latest New Yorker article whooping up Elizabeth Anderson, a University of Michigan philosophy professor, as the great hope for American equality. The 8000-word profile was an exercise in faith building which failed to sway […]
Here’s a round-up of my epigrams on voting from my books and articles since 1993: *Politicians are dividing America into two classes – those who work for a living and those who vote for a living *Nowadays, we have elections in lieu of freedom. *What government abuses and crimes can we expect to cease as […]
