Tag Archives | Woodrow Wilson

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Trump And the Presidential Fearmongering Tradition

The media is railing about Trump for fearmongering ahead of the midterm elections.  Like this never happened before?  Like this is not the job description of modern politicians? Like Obama, George W. Bush, and Clinton did not fearmonger whenever they could profit by spooking Americans?  Trump is continuing a tradition that was firmly established by […]

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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 […]

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FFF: The FBI’s Forgotten Criminal Record

Future of Freedom Foundation The FBI’s Forgotten Criminal Record by James Bovard October 19, 2017 President Trump’s firing of FBI chief James Comey on May 9 spurred much of the media and many Democrats to rally around America’s most powerful domestic federal agency. But the FBI has a long record of both deceit and incompetence. […]

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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 […]

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FFF: World War One Still Haunts America

Future of Freedom Foundation How World War One Still Haunts America by James Bovard This year is the 100th anniversary of Woodrow Wilson’s pulling America into World War I. Many people celebrate this centenary of America’s emergence as a world power. But at a time when the Trump administration is bombing or rattling sabers at […]

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USA TODAY: End Democracy Promotion Balderdash

USA Today, August 10, 2017 Hey, guess what? Donald Trump has a good foreign policy idea by James Bovard Let’s get our own house in order before we start imposing democracy on others. The Trump administration’s foreign policy often resembles a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party or a loose cannon on a ship deck. But every […]

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Bashing Woodrow Wilson & World War One on Scott Horton Show

Libertarian talk show superstar Scott Horton and I had a rowdy chat earlier this week on Woodrow Wilson and World War One (spurred by my USA Today oped).  We had fun smacking around Wilson for dragging the U.S. into a conflict that opened a Pandora’s Box for so many subsequent wars and dictators.   I admit I […]

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