New York Post, February 2, 2023 To vilify our founders, Hulu’s ‘1619’ ignores what actually sparked the American Revolution By James Bovard The 1619 Project is back in the news with the release of the six-part Hulu series built around the claim that “nearly everything that has made America exceptional grew out of slavery.” Progressives […]
Tag Archives | slavery

Stop Trying to Rebrand Slavery
Libertarian Institute, September 27, 2022 Stop Trying to Rebrand Slavery by Jim Bovard | Sep 27, 2022 When did slavery become so chic? From The New York Times to the Aspen Institute to a bevy of failed generals and weaselly ex-diplomats, the caterwauling for mandatory national service is rising. After decades in which political betrayals […]

Can Mass Subjugation Save Democracy?
American Institute for Economic Research, July 7, 2021 Can Mass Subjugation Save American Democracy? James Bovard Beatings will continue until morale improves” has morphed from an old joke to the latest prescription for national salvation. “Compulsory National Service Could Unite America,” whooped a New York Times Op-ed headline last week. Prominent media outlets, think tanks, […]

Sovereignty Still Rests with the People, Not Congress
American Institute for Economic Research, February 12, 2021 Sovereignty Still Rests with the People, Not Congress James Bovard Politicians lustfully rejoicing at their own power is the ultimate “dog bites man” story that goes unremarked in Washington. The Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump included one such vivid vignette, an ominous warning that Congress recognizes […]

Government as Slave Owner (2000)
Google notified that my article from 20 years ago was recently reposted so I will run it up the flagpole here as well. That piece was partially spun off from my 1999 book, Freedom in Chains (St. Martin’s Press. Here is a paragraph from that book that did not make it into the article below: […]

A Halo for the Civil War is Hogwash
Libertarian Institute, July 16, 2020 A Halo for the Civil War is Hogwash by James Bovard “If the people who started wars didn’t make them sacred, who would be foolish enough to fight?” said Rhett Butler, the savvy anti-hero in Gone with the Wind. Politicians, activist historians, and social justice warriors have awarded the American […]

Thoreau and Emerson Helped Spark the Civil War
American Conservative, July 9, 2020 19th Century Radical Chic: How Transcendentalists’ Swooned Over John Brown Thoreau and Emerson’s effort to canonize the abolitionist fanatic helped spark the Civil War. by Jim Bovard Many Americans have been aghast at violent mobs toppling statues and the widespread looting and destructive rampages that followed the killing of George […]