{"id":22491,"date":"2026-04-01T14:22:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T18:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=22491"},"modified":"2026-04-02T12:29:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:29:37","slug":"dilbert-vs-leviathan-scott-adamss-greatest-hits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/01\/dilbert-vs-leviathan-scott-adamss-greatest-hits\/","title":{"rendered":"Dilbert vs. Leviathan: Scott Adams\u2019s Greatest Hits"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n
\"\"<\/a>

One of my fav Dilbert strips, still on my kitchen bookshelf where I taped it 20 years ago<\/p><\/div>\r\n

Dilbert vs. Leviathan: Scott Adams\u2019s Greatest Hits<\/a><\/strong><\/h1>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

by James Bovard\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Scott Adams, the cartoonist who gave Dilbert to the world, passed away in January after a hard fight against cancer. His glorious BS radar deserves to be prominently displayed in the Smithsonian Institute. No one had a sharper ear than Adams for contemporary American bloviating.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Dilbert cartoon strip was launched in 1989 and caught fire in the 1990s. For many downtrodden office workers, posting a Dilbert cartoon in their cubicle became a tiny flag of independence.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But Scott Adams also did many of the best political cartoons in the nation for more than a third of a century. Adams left almost no Washington sacred cow unkicked.<\/strong> A 2012 cartoon caricatured the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund with the International Bank for Bailing Out Countries That Are Bad At Math. A Third World despot clamoring for a handout complains, \u201cOur Treasury is empty and we\u2019re not sure why.\u201d Actually, Congress has had the same problem for almost 25 straight years. Congress also perennially bankrolled the World Bank and the IMF even though those agencies refused to disclose how they were squandering U.S. tax dollars.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

At his best, Adams sowed bipartisan cynicism on political processes. In a 2006 cartoon, Dilbert\u2019s co-worker Wally taunts him after an election: \u201cI heard that the guy you voted for just confessed to having an affair with a squirrel.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Dilbert replies: \u201cShut up. The guy you voted for is being sued for choking his secretary.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Wally replies: \u201cIn some countries, they don\u2019t get a choice of who to vote for.\u201d Dilbert concurs: \u201cI feel sorry for them.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n

That cartoon could have practically been the theme for my 2006 book Attention Deficit Democracy <\/a><\/em>(St. Martin\u2019s Press). As that book warned, \u201cThe biggest election frauds usually occur before the voting booths open.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Skewering jargon<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Adams brought razor-sharp analyses to the everyday abuse of the English language.<\/strong> A 2018 strip exposed Washington\u2019s favorite scam. Dilbert\u2019s boss explains: \u201cYour project summary needs more jargon and acronyms. The goal is to make ourselves look smart while making the readers feel dumb.<\/strong>\u201d Federal agencies perpetually play that charade on slow-witted congressmen. But this is on par with taking candy from a baby. Congress requires federal agencies to produce thousands of reports each year, but the studies go unread on Capitol Hill and instead literally serve as door stops, according to the Washington Post<\/em>. Members of Congress routinely fail to read the thousand-page bills they enact. Sen. Jim DeMint lamented in 2010: \u201cI think that passing 94 percent of the bills without anybody reading them or knowing they are being passed is not a good way to do business.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

You think????<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Vapid jargon wafts over federal programs like toxic gas on a World War One battlefield. I<\/strong>n an American Spectator<\/em> piece<\/a> on AmeriCorps in 2000, I taunted federal grantees for touting boneheaded \u201cgoals that look like they may have been lifted out of a Dilbert cartoon.\u201d For instance, a Mississippi program\u00a0 promised that each AmeriCorps member would \u201cGive a reflection and self-assessment\u201d and a \u201cSelf\/diagnosis in an end-of-year survey.\u201d As a result, each member would achieve \u201ca 75 % increase on average in understanding about self.\u201d Heck, if AmeriCorps could put hundreds of thousands of shameless therapists out of business, that would be fine with me.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

After I swooped down to the Mississippi Delta to investigate that squirrely claim, the chief of that program was convicted of fraud and sent to federal prison. But AmeriCorps\u2019s ludicrous success claims continue to be accepted at face value for decades afterwards.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Adams did skeet shoots to blast phrases worshipped in Washington.<\/strong> In a 2018 strip, Dilbert tells his shiftless coworker Wally: \u201cI keep speaking truth to power, but it isn\u2019t working out for me.\u201d Wally replies: \u201cTry lying to weasels. It doesn\u2019t look as good on a bumper sticker but it gets the job done.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

That cartoon might have been inspired by President Trump\u2019s nomination of Gina Haspel to head the Central Intelligence Agency<\/strong>. A dozen years earlier, Haspel had engineered the illegal destruction of videotapes showing CIA agents torturing Muslim detainees in secret prisons around the globe. But Haspel\u2019s supporters on Capitol Hill clamored to confirm her as CIA chief so she could \u201cspeak truth to power.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Actually, promising to \u201cspeak truth to power\u201d is the favorite sham in the least trusted city in America<\/strong>. But people who speak truth to power tend to end up fired, exiled, or imprisoned<\/strong>. Tell it to Edward Snowden. There are far more Washington politicians praising honesty than there are honest politicians. \u201cTruth delayed is truth defused\u201d is a much better description of how most politicians behave.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Justice and privacy<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A 2018 cartoon perfectly captures the double standard for justice for the American elite<\/strong>. A policeman shows up with handcuffs for Dogbert, Dilbert\u2019s pet beagle who doubles as an evil mastermind of the universe, but announces: \u201cBefore I arrest you, I\u2019ll need to know your net worth. We have a slightly different process for arresting rich folks.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Dogbert announces: \u201cI\u2019m very rich.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The cop replies: \u201cIn that case, I\u2019ll wear the handcuffs.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

That cartoon came out about the time that Sen. Robert Menendez, formerly the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, was prosecuted for taking bribes from foreign governments. After a hung jury resulted in a mistrial and the Justice Department dropped the charges, the Senate Ethics Committee \u201cpunished\u201d Menendez by requiring him to repay the kickbacks he pocketed. Despite the disgrace, Menendez again became chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2021 to 2023. He was finally convicted after federal agents caught him with gold bars that he pocketed for serving the government of Egypt.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"\"<\/a>Government surveillance spurred some of Adams\u2019s best smackdowns<\/strong>. Anyone who ever castigated TSA\u2019s Whole Body Scanners will appreciate the 2016 strip in which Dilbert returns from poverty-stricken Elbonia and is told he appeared naked on their national TV. Why? Because \u201cthe only television show in Elbonia is a live feed from their airport full-body scanners.\u201d No wonder that people believe that TSA actually stands<\/a> for \u201cThree Stooges Audition,\u201d \u201cTotal Sexual Assault,\u201d \u201cTear Suitcase Apart,\u201d \u201cThousands Standing Around,\u201d \u201cToo Stupid for Arby\u2019s,\u201d \u201cTake Scissors Away,\u201d and \u201cThey Steal Anything.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The 2020 election\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Playing on the controversies around Joe Biden\u2019s 80-million vote total in 2020, Dilbert\u2019s company commences making electronic voting machines.<\/strong> After noting widespread public distrust, Dilbert\u2019s boss tells the company CEO: \u201cWe plan to fix that by rigging voting machines to elect politicians who will tell people\u2019s there\u2019s nothing to worry about.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The CEO responds: \u201cWhy don\u2019t people trust us?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Dilbert\u2019s boss replies: \u201cI was wondering the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Scott Adams avoided the legal debacles suffered by Fox News because he was smart enough not to specify any voting software company by name.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

That Dilbert strip ratified the wisdom in a federal report that came out shortly after the contested 2020 election. Writing about how the U.S. government paid for pervasive electronic voting fraud in Afghanistan, the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) noted, \u201cThere is no difference between stuffing 100 ballots and pressing a button on an electronic voting machine 100 times.\u201d SIGAR warned that \u201cbecause governments often control electoral commissions and the procurement of election technology, they are well placed to use it to commit fraud. The introduction of technology can also weaken the ability of political parties and observation groups to detect fraud.\u201d In a blunt warning that should have echoed far louder in the American media, SIGAR noted, \u201cThe true purpose of adopting election technologies may not be to actually reduce fraud, but to create the illusion of doing so.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The COVID pandemic<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The COVID pandemic was one of Scott Adams\u2019s finest hours<\/strong>. After Dilbert complains about a colleague wearing a facemask during a Zoom call, the colleague challenges him: \u201cCan you back up that claim with a randomized clinical study?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Later, Dilbert confides to Dogbert: \u201cI\u2019ve noticed it\u2019s a lot easier to hate people lately.\u201d Government policies encouraged people to distrust or hate anyone who failed to submit the latest idiotic command<\/strong>.\u00a0 A New York Times<\/em> piece headlined, \u201cSocial Distancing Informants Have Their Eyes on You,\u201d noted, \u201cIn some cities and counties, vigilantism has been encouraged by municipalities that have set up special phone numbers, apps or online forms to report violations.\u201d Two hundred thousand complaints were quickly registered in Massachusetts alone, including against a maskless female stripper at Kittens Gentlemen\u2019s Club.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"\"<\/a>In

Adams also gloriously impaled conniving pharmaceutical companies. In a 2022 strip, Dilbert tells his boss: \u201cPeople on Twitter are questioning the safety of our new pill.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The boss replies: \u201cTell them the data they are using is fake.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Dilbert responds: \u201cThey\u2019re using OUR data.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The boss retorts: \u201cThat\u2019s how I know it\u2019s fake.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Actually, COVID vaccine makers didn\u2019t need to provide false data to Uncle Sam because Washington politicians were determined to pretend to be saviors regardless of the vaccine\u2019s failures or side effec<\/strong>ts. In late 2020, the FDA approved the COVID vaccine for emergency use, despite zero independent data on the vaccine safety. The emergency use authorization meant vaccine makers had zero liability for any deaths or injuries resulting from the injections. FDA approved Pfizer\u2019s application for a fourth COVID booster simply based on tests on eight mice. As health professor Leana Wen noted in the Washington Post<\/em>, \u201cA Lancet study found that those who were vaccinated but never had COVID were 4 times as likely to have severe illness resulting in hospitalization or death compared to the unvaccinated who recovered from it.\u201d Since early 2022, most\u00a0COVID fatalities have occurred among the fully vaccinated.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Capitol protests<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

At his best, Adams obliterated the dogmas propagated by bootlicking Washington pundits. After the

After decades of flogging politicians across the board, Adams has been a Trump zealot since 2016. Not even jaded cartoonists are perfect.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Lessons for success<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"\"<\/a>In a bushel of books. Adams offered plenty of life advice for the perplexed. In <\/strong>his 2014 book How to Fail at Almost Everything And Still Win Big<\/em>, Adams advises: \u201cIf you want success, figure out the price, then pay it.\u201d That\u2019s a modern version of an axiom from the Greek philosopher Epictetus that I taped to my bedroom wall 40 years ago: \u201cFirst say to yourself what you would be: then do what you have to do.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Perhaps Adams\u2019s best advice was to guard your concentration like the crown jewel<\/strong>s. Modern technology is one damn distraction after another: who has not heartily cursed dings from untimely text messages? \u201cMy morning is all about stilling the outside world so my mind can soar,\u201d Adams wrote. There is a magic to morning lucidity that usually vanishes before high noon.\u00a0 Admittedly, I never aspired to Adams\u2019s dairy-farmer-style 5 a.m. awakenings.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

For millions of his fans, Adams will always be remembered as the guy who brightened their lives by brilliantly mocking the absurdities and indignities they endured. Americans should also remember all the political balloons that Adams punctured. Adams is gone, but his humor is a gift that will continue enriching American lives for generations to come.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

James Bovard is a policy advisor to The Future of Freedom Foundation and is the author of the ebook <\/em>Freedom Frauds: Hard Lessons in American Liberty<\/a>, published by FFF, his new book,<\/em> Last Rights: The Death of American Liberty, and nine other books.<\/em><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scott Adams, the cartoonist who gave Dilbert to the world, passed away in January after a hard fight against cancer. His glorious BS radar deserves to be prominently displayed in the Smithsonian Institute. No one had a sharper ear than Adams for contemporary American bloviating.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[42,40,56,15,2349,327,276,496,4797,82,98,1418,362,164,255,221,4719,1259,2379,708,2959,99],"class_list":["post-22491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-afghanistan","tag-americorps","tag-cartoon","tag-congress","tag-covid","tag-cynicism","tag-dilbert","tag-election","tag-epictetus","tag-foreign-aid","tag-imf","tag-informants","tag-inspector-general","tag-leviathan","tag-mississippi","tag-philosophy","tag-scott-adams","tag-sigar","tag-software","tag-trump","tag-vaccine-mandate","tag-world-bank"],"yoast_head":"\nDilbert vs. Leviathan: Scott Adams\u2019s Greatest Hits - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The late Scott Adams, the Dilbert cartoonist, gloriously mocked Leviathan, federal surveillance, elections, etc.\" \/>\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\/2026\/04\/01\/dilbert-vs-leviathan-scott-adamss-greatest-hits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dilbert vs. Leviathan: Scott Adams\u2019s Greatest Hits - 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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 & 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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