{"id":1447,"date":"2010-02-17T11:16:29","date_gmt":"2010-02-17T16:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=1447"},"modified":"2010-02-17T11:16:29","modified_gmt":"2010-02-17T16:16:29","slug":"frightening-voters-into-submission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/17\/frightening-voters-into-submission\/","title":{"rendered":"Frightening Voters Into Submission"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the November 2009 issue of the Future of Freedom Foundation’s\u00a0Freedom Daily<\/a>…<\/p>\n

Frightening Voters Into Submission<\/strong><\/p>\n

by James Bovard<\/p>\n

Former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge has a new book out that reveals that he almost resigned because the Bush administration was hustling bogus terror alerts before the 2004 election. Ridge\u2019s revelation was not surprising to people who had closely followed the tactics Bush used to snare a second term.<\/p>\n

During the 2004 campaign, residents of swing states were under constant bombardment by throat-grabbing political ads. In late September, the Bush campaign released a television ad titled \u201cPeace and Security.\u201d The New York Times described the ad: \u201cA clock ticks menacingly as a young mother pulls a quart of milk out of a refrigerator in slow motion, a young father loads toddlers into a minivan and an announcer intones ominously, \u2018Weakness invites those who would do us harm.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The most memorable Bush ad, released a few weeks before the election, opened in a thick forest, with shadows and hazy shots complementing the foreboding music. A female announcer ominously declared, \u201cIn an increasingly dangerous world, even after the first terrorist attack on America, John Kerry and the liberals in Congress voted to slash America\u2019s intelligence operations by $6 billion \u2014 cuts so deep they would have weakened America\u2019s defenses.\u201d The ad then focused on a pack of wolves reclining in a clearing. The voiceover concluded, \u201cAnd weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm,\u201d as the wolves began jumping up and running toward the camera. At the end of the ad, the president appeared and announced, \u201cI\u2019m George W. Bush and I approve this message.\u201d<\/p>\n

One liberal cynic suggested that the ad\u2019s message was that voters would be eaten by wolves if Kerry won. A Bush advisor told ABC News that \u201cthe ad was produced and tested months ago. Voter reaction was so powerful that we decided to hold the ad to the end of the campaign and make it one of the closing spots.\u201d<\/p>\n

The theme<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since the 2004 election largely turned on who would be the best protector, the Bush campaign sought to make Americans view criticism of the president as if it were a weapon of mass destruction. Zell Miller, a Democratic senator and the keynote speaker for the Republican National Convention, delivered the angriest prime-time speech at a modern political convention. Watched by a national television audience of millions, Miller revealed that political opposition is treason: \u201cNow, at the same time young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Democrats\u2019 manic obsession to bring down our commander in chief.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was no evidence that such criticism of Bush\u2019s foreign policy was ripping America asunder \u2014 but trumpeting the accusation made Bush critics appear a pox on the land. Miller denounced Kerry\u2019s record on national defense and suggested that he would leave the military armed with only \u201cspitballs.\u201d When Miller was pressed for evidence of his charges in a post-speech interview, he angrily talked of challenging MSNBC\u2019s Chris Matthews to a duel. Every word in Miller\u2019s speech was preapproved by the Bush campaign. In the following weeks, Bush often appeared with Miller at campaign stops, signifying his embrace of Miller\u2019s message.<\/p>\n

The theme echoed<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Zell Miller \u201ccriticism-as-treason\u201d theme permeated the campaign. New York City\u2019s former police commissioner, Bernie Kerik, stumping around the nation for Bush, told audiences, \u201cPolitical criticism is our enemy\u2019s best friend.\u201d The Washington Post noted on September 24, 2004, \u201cPresident Bush and leading Republicans are increasingly charging that Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry and others in his party are giving comfort to terrorists and undermining the war in Iraq \u2014 a line of attack that tests the conventional bounds of political rhetoric.\u201d When the United States\u2019s handpicked leader of Iraq, Iyad Allawi, visited the White House, Bush declaimed that Kerry\u2019s criticisms of his Iraq policy \u201ccan embolden an enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other prominent Republicans jumped on the bandwagon. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, condemned Democrats for \u201cconsistently saying things that I think undermine our young men and women who are serving over there.\u201d John Thune, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in South Dakota, denounced Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle: \u201cHis words embolden the enemy.\u201d Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman condemned the Kerry campaign for \u201cparroting the rhetoric of terrorists\u201d and warned, \u201cThe enemy listens. All listen to what the president said, and all listen to what Senator Kerry said.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the first two debates, Bush repeatedly implied that Kerry\u2019s criticisms of his policies in Iraq proved Kerry was unfit to be president. Bush kept coming back to Kerry\u2019s use of the phrase \u201cthe wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time\u201d as if Kerry had greatly sinned against the American people by saying such a thing. Apparently, by definition, anyone who criticizes a ruler is unfit to correct that ruler\u2019s mistakes.<\/p>\n

Each time Kerry talked of Bush\u2019s failures in Iraq, Bush claimed that Kerry was attacking U.S. troops, and many citizens believed him. Each Kerry criticism of a specific debacle became further proof of his lack of patriotism. Following media reports about the looting of an Iraqi ammo dump after its capture by American forces, Kerry criticized the Bush administration for neglecting to secure the explosives, some of which may have later been used to attack U.S. troops. Bush erupted: \u201cSenator Kerry is again attacking the actions of our military in Iraq, with complete disregard for the facts. Senator Kerry will say anything to get elected.\u201d Bush spokesmen condemned Kerry for criticizing before all the facts were out \u2014 at the same time the administration continued withholding facts. The Bush team wanted Americans to believe that anyone who criticized the Iraq war was opposed to defending America.<\/p>\n

The theme expanded<\/strong><\/p>\n

The expanding concept of treason plugged the president\u2019s growing credibility gap. It was as if the Democrats were not allowed to say anything critical about Iraq, and the Bush campaign was not obliged to say anything honest about it. Thus, Bush needed only to perpetuate his wars to perpetually silence his critics.<\/p>\n

The demonization of criticism helped anger ill-informed voters, fostering intolerance that helped Bush win reelection. Apparently, criticism was inherently more dangerous than perpetuating disastrous policies. This would make sense only if blind obedience provides the equivalent to body armor for the entire nation.<\/p>\n

The same \u201csupport Bush or betray America\u201d paradigm had helped Republicans capture the Senate in the 2002 congressional elections. In mid 2002, when he was White House political director, Mehlman created a PowerPoint presentation for Republican candidates urging them to \u201chighlight fears of future terrorist attacks.\u201d (A copy of the disk with the project was dropped in a park near the White House.) In September 2002, after Democrats balked at some anti-union provisions in the administration\u2019s legislation to create a Homeland Security Department, Bush declared his opponents are \u201cnot interested in the security of the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Treating voters like children<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bush\u2019s tactics were aided by a coterie of talking heads who portrayed his campaign as much more lofty than it was. Republican pollster Frank Luntz asserted two days after the election, \u201cSome will claim that Mr. Bush won on Tuesday because he waged a campaign of fear. The exact opposite was the case. Americans turned to him precisely because they saw him as the antidote to that fear.\u201d But that was exactly the point of the Bush campaign strategy \u2014 to fan fear and portray Bush as the antidote. Luntz\u2019s rewriting of history was perhaps inspired by his work for many Republican politicians and organizations. In a June 2004 confidential memo to Republican candidates, he urged them to remember, \u201c\u20189\/11 changed everything\u2019 is the context by which everything follows. No speech about homeland security or Iraq should begin without a reference to 9\/11.\u201d<\/p>\n

White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, in a talk to Republican National Convention delegates in September 2004, praised Bush\u2019s role as the protector of the nation and assured them that \u201cthis president sees America as we think about a 10-year-old child. I know as a parent I would sacrifice all for my children.\u201d Card\u2019s comment generated almost no controversy. Yet viewing Americans as young children needing protection makes a mockery of democracy. Is servility now the price of survival?<\/p>\n

Fear-mongering subverts self-government. The more fears government fans, the fewer people will recall the danger of government itself. The more frightened people become, the more prone they will be to see their rulers as saviors rather than as potential oppressors. After promising freedom from fear, a politician can simply invoke polls showing widespread fears to justify seizing new power. The more government frightens people, the more legitimate its power grabs become.<\/p>\n

We now have the Battered Citizen Syndrome: the more debacles, the more voters cling to faith in their rulers. Like a train engineer bonding with the survivors of a train wreck that happened on his watch, Bush constantly reminded Americans of 9\/11 and his wars. The greater the government\u2019s failure to protect, the greater the subsequent mass fear \u2014 and the easier it becomes to subjugate the populace. The craving for a protector drops an iron curtain around the mind, preventing a person from accepting evidence that would shred his political security blanket.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, few Americans seem to have learned the lessons of recent presidents. As a result, politicians can count on seizing new power after their next debacle. Nothing will change, except for the name of the oppressor.<\/p>\n

James Bovard is the author of Attention Deficit Democracy [2006] as well as The Bush Betrayal [2004], Lost Rights [1994] and Terrorism and Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Justice and Peace to Rid the World of Evil (Palgrave-Macmillan, September 2003) and serves as a policy advisor for The Future of Freedom Foundation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the November 2009 issue of the Future of Freedom Foundation’s\u00a0Freedom Daily… Frightening Voters Into Submission by James Bovard Former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge has a new book out that reveals that he almost resigned because the Bush administration was hustling bogus terror alerts before the 2004 election. Ridge\u2019s revelation was not surprising to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[659,22,17,45,673,33,666,657],"class_list":{"0":"post-1447","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"tag-attention-deficit-democracy","8":"tag-elective-dictatorship","9":"tag-freedom","11":"tag-patriot-act","13":"tag-rule-of-law"},"yoast_head":"\nFrightening Voters Into Submission - 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\/2010\/02\/17\/frightening-voters-into-submission\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Frightening Voters Into Submission - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From the November 2009 issue of the Future of Freedom Foundation’s\u00a0Freedom Daily… Frightening Voters Into Submission by James Bovard Former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge has a new book out that reveals that he almost resigned because the Bush administration was hustling bogus terror alerts before the 2004 election. Ridge\u2019s revelation was not surprising to […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/17\/frightening-voters-into-submission\/\" \/>\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=\"2010-02-17T16:16:29+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=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/17\\\/frightening-voters-into-submission\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/17\\\/frightening-voters-into-submission\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"headline\":\"Frightening Voters Into Submission\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-17T16:16:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/17\\\/frightening-voters-into-submission\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1659,\"commentCount\":9,\"keywords\":[\"Attention Deficit Democracy\",\"Attention Deficit Democracy\",\"Elective Dictatorship\",\"Freedom\",\"Freedom\",\"Patriot Act\",\"Patriot Act\",\"Rule of Law\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/17\\\/frightening-voters-into-submission\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/17\\\/frightening-voters-into-submission\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/17\\\/frightening-voters-into-submission\\\/\",\"name\":\"Frightening Voters Into Submission - James Bovard\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-17T16:16:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/17\\\/frightening-voters-into-submission\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/17\\\/frightening-voters-into-submission\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/17\\\/frightening-voters-into-submission\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Frightening Voters Into Submission\"}]},{\"@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 & 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. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/jim.bovard\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/jimbovard\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Frightening Voters Into Submission - James Bovard","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/17\/frightening-voters-into-submission\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Frightening Voters Into Submission - James Bovard","og_description":"From the November 2009 issue of the Future of Freedom Foundation’s\u00a0Freedom Daily… Frightening Voters Into Submission by James Bovard Former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge has a new book out that reveals that he almost resigned because the Bush administration was hustling bogus terror alerts before the 2004 election. Ridge\u2019s revelation was not surprising to […]","og_url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/17\/frightening-voters-into-submission\/","og_site_name":"James Bovard","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","article_published_time":"2010-02-17T16:16:29+00:00","author":"Jim","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@jimbovard","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/17\/frightening-voters-into-submission\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/17\/frightening-voters-into-submission\/"},"author":{"name":"Jim","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"headline":"Frightening Voters Into Submission","datePublished":"2010-02-17T16:16:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/17\/frightening-voters-into-submission\/"},"wordCount":1659,"commentCount":9,"keywords":["Attention Deficit Democracy","Attention Deficit Democracy","Elective Dictatorship","Freedom","Freedom","Patriot Act","Patriot Act","Rule of Law"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/17\/frightening-voters-into-submission\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/17\/frightening-voters-into-submission\/","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/17\/frightening-voters-into-submission\/","name":"Frightening Voters Into Submission - James Bovard","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-02-17T16:16:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/17\/frightening-voters-into-submission\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/17\/frightening-voters-into-submission\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/17\/frightening-voters-into-submission\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Frightening Voters Into Submission"}]},{"@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 & 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. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","https:\/\/x.com\/jimbovard"],"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1447"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1448,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1447\/revisions\/1448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}