{"id":1156,"date":"2009-09-09T22:47:56","date_gmt":"2009-09-10T03:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=1156"},"modified":"2009-09-09T22:47:56","modified_gmt":"2009-09-10T03:47:56","slug":"obama-and-his-leavening-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/09\/obama-and-his-leavening-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama and his &#8220;Leavening Hand&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Obama&#8217;s health care pitch on Wednesday night contained the usual howlers.  One of the biggest hoots of the evening came in this riff &#8211;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Our predecessors understood&#8230; that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little; that that without <strong>the leavening hand of wise policy<\/strong>, markets can crash, monopolies can stifle competition, and the vulnerable can be exploited. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Thank goodness the Securities and Exchange Commission is protecting investors, thank goodness the Postal Service is assuring free choice, and thank goodness the Pentagon is humanely protecting everyone who falls under its power.<\/p>\n<p>The Obama health reform debate is about Statism, pure and simple.   There is no way to support Obama&#8217;s proposals without assuming that government is far nobler and more competent than it actually is. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Obama&#8217;s health care pitch on Wednesday night contained the usual howlers. One of the biggest hoots of the evening came in this riff &#8211; &#8220;Our predecessors understood&#8230; that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little; that that without the leavening hand of wise policy, markets can crash, monopolies [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[659,22,6,669,38],"class_list":{"0":"post-1156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"tag-attention-deficit-democracy","8":"tag-bovard","9":"tag-obama"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Obama and his &quot;Leavening Hand&quot; - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/09\/obama-and-his-leavening-hand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obama and his &quot;Leavening Hand&quot; - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Obama&#8217;s health care pitch on Wednesday night contained the usual howlers. One of the biggest hoots of the evening came in this riff &#8211; &#8220;Our predecessors understood&#8230; that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little; that that without the leavening hand of wise policy, markets can crash, monopolies [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/09\/obama-and-his-leavening-hand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-09-10T03:47:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jimbovard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/09\\\/obama-and-his-leavening-hand\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/09\\\/obama-and-his-leavening-hand\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"headline\":\"Obama and his &#8220;Leavening Hand&#8221;\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-09-10T03:47:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/09\\\/obama-and-his-leavening-hand\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":137,\"commentCount\":5,\"keywords\":[\"Attention Deficit Democracy\",\"Attention Deficit Democracy\",\"Bovard\",\"Obama\",\"Obama\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/09\\\/obama-and-his-leavening-hand\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/09\\\/obama-and-his-leavening-hand\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/09\\\/obama-and-his-leavening-hand\\\/\",\"name\":\"Obama and his \\\"Leavening Hand\\\" - James Bovard\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-09-10T03:47:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/09\\\/obama-and-his-leavening-hand\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/09\\\/obama-and-his-leavening-hand\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/09\\\/obama-and-his-leavening-hand\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Obama and his &#8220;Leavening Hand&#8221;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"James Bovard\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\",\"name\":\"Jim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Jim\"},\"description\":\"Bovard's homepage is at http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \\\"the roving inspector general of the modern state\\\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \\\"one-man truth squad.\\\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism &amp; Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \\\"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\\\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. 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The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \"the roving inspector general of the modern state\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \"one-man truth squad.\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism &amp; Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. 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