{"id":12649,"date":"2018-11-06T17:46:36","date_gmt":"2018-11-06T22:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=12649"},"modified":"2018-11-06T22:12:21","modified_gmt":"2018-11-07T03:12:21","slug":"25-years-of-voting-epigrams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2018\/11\/06\/25-years-of-voting-epigrams\/","title":{"rendered":"25 Years of Voting Epigrams"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Here’s a round-up of my epigrams on voting from my books and articles since 1993:<\/p>\n

*Politicians are dividing America into two classes – those who work for a living and those who vote for a living<\/p>\n

*Nowadays, we have elections in lieu of freedom.<\/p>\n

*What government abuses and crimes can we expect to cease as a result of 100 million people voting today?<\/p>\n

*A successful politician is often merely someone who conned more voters than the other liar on the ballot.<\/p>\n

*Instead of revealing the \u201cwill of the people,\u201d election results are often only a one-day snapshot of transient mass delusions.<\/p>\n

*The biggest election frauds usually occur before the voting booths open.<\/p>\n

*America needs fewer laws, not more prisons.<\/p>\n

*Voting is far more likely to sanctify politicians’ power than to curb their abuses.<\/p>\n

*The more confused people\u2019s political thinking becomes, the easier it is for rulers to invoke democracy to destroy freedom.<\/p>\n

*Federal secrecy is ravaging American democracy. There is no such thing as retroactive self-government.<\/p>\n

*In politics, \u2018positive thinking\u2019 is often a slave\u2019s virtue that deludes people about the chains placed upon them.<\/p>\n

*The ability to push a lever every few years is supposedly the only protection citizens\u2019 rights and liberties need \u2013 or deserve\u201d<\/p>\n

*If rulers are above the law, citizens have the same freedom that slaves had on days when their masters chose not to beat them.<\/p>\n

*Attention Deficit Democracy begets the arrogance and ignorance that paves the way to political collapse. [<\/p>\n

*Equating democracy with liberty is as foolish as equating monarchs with God.<\/p>\n

*Voting is often simply a political lottery ticket promising something for nothing.<\/p>\n

*Modern democracy presumes that people can control what they do not understand.<\/p>\n

*Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.<\/p>\n

*Paternalism is a desperate gamble that lying politicians will honestly care for those who fall under their power.<\/p>\n

*A lie that is accepted by a sufficient number of ignorant voters becomes a political truth.<\/p>\n

*Citizens should distrust politicians who distrust freedom.<\/p>\n

*Voting is little more than an unreliable Kevlar jacket against political and bureaucratic assaults<\/p>\n

*Truth is a lagging indicator in politics.<\/p>\n

*The arrogance of power is the best hope for the survival of freedom.<\/p>\n

*We need a constitutional amendment to make the federal government obey the Constitution.<\/p>\n

*Rather than a democracy, we increasingly have an elective dictatorship in which people merely choose who will ravage the laws and the Constitution.<\/p>\n

*We now have a political system which is nominally democratic but increasingly authoritarian.<\/p>\n

*Trumpeting the importance of voting deludes people into thinking that they have a leash on the government.<\/p>\n

*Voting is far more likely to sanctify politicians\u2019 power than to curb their abuses.<\/p>\n

*The worst violation of voting rights occurs when election winners trample the law and the Constitution.<\/p>\n

*Voting often means trusting one\u2019s life, liberty, & property to one of two candidates, neither of whom is trustworthy.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Americans are far more likely to be deluded on Election Day by their own government than by foreigners.<\/p>\n

Election results are often only a one-day snapshot of transient mass delusions<\/p>\n

Obama helped establish an Impunity Democracy<\/strong> in which rulers pay no price for their misdeeds.<\/p>\n

Justice Dept. will alert Americans to foreign attempts to “subvert democracy<\/strong>” but there will still be no warnings for subversion by U.S. government agencies<\/p>\n

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We hear "government is us" but private citizens have no idea what the hell is going on in the White House regarding Syria. We have democracy except for vast killing abroad in our name.<\/p>\n

— James Bovard (@JimBovard) April 12, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n