{"id":22584,"date":"2026-04-23T08:18:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T12:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=22584"},"modified":"2026-04-23T08:18:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T12:18:31","slug":"consent-as-the-ticket-for-tyranny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/23\/consent-as-the-ticket-for-tyranny\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cConsent\u201d as the Ticket for Tyranny"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cConsent\u201d as the Ticket for Tyranny<\/a><\/h1>\n

James Bovard, Counterpunch, April 23, 2026<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Presidents have been perverting \u201cconsent of the governed\u201d for centuries.<\/strong> \u201cConsent of the governed\u201d was a signature line of the Declaration of Independence, and it has echoed in official declarations ever since Jefferson\u2019s time. President Harry Truman assured Congress in 1952, \u201cNo government can be invested with a higher dignity and greater worth than one based upon the principle of consent.\u201d But this has long since been a charade.<\/p>\n

As the federal government has become far larger and more heavy-handed, it is ever more important to persuade people that they consented to their oppressio<\/strong>n. But political consent is gauged very differently than consent in other areas of life. Political contracts only bind one side to an agreement. Consider the \u201cContract with America\u201d that House Republicans offered in 1994, the \u201cNew Direction for America\u201d that House Democrats offered in 2006, the \u201cPledge to America\u201d that Republicans offered in 2010, and Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cContract with the American Voter\u201d unveiled in October 2016<\/a>. None of these \u201ccontracts\u201d was enforceable in a court of law. Instead, they were simply political promises that, labeled as contracts or pledges, created the mirage of a binding obligation.<\/p>\n

Political contracts differ from private contracts because the former can never be nullified on account of deceit. Overt fraud is prohibited in private business dealings but is pervasive in political affairs. Citizens\u2019 consent to their rulers at the voting booth is effectively irrevocable \u2014 at least for the current term in office. This is the fatal imbalance: a politician can say or do almost anything to get people\u2019s votes. But after Election Day, people can do almost nothing to restrain the politician.<\/p>\n

Almost a half-century ago, there was a brief, politically motivated recognition that the sheer size of government makes a mockery of citizens\u2019 consent. President Jimmy Carter told the Democratic National Committee in 1978 that \u201cthe trend has been away from this commitment\u201d that \u201claws should be made with the consent of the governed.\u201d The 1980 Republican Party platform warned: \u201cGovernment\u2019s power \u2026 has already reached extravagant proportions. As government\u2019s power continues to grow, the \u2018consent of the governed\u2019 will diminish.\u201d President Reagan warned in his 1981 inaugural address, \u201cIt is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet, during Reagan\u2019s presidency, the federal government became more invasive and intolerant. Reagan launched one moralistic crusade after another, cracking down on drugs, scourging smut, and raising the national drinking age to 21. The Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency became far more punitive, while the Internal Revenue Service set records for unjustified seizures from private citizens. But Reagan was still a saint for many conservatives because he denounced \u201cbig government.\u201d<\/p>\n

A shining example of the perversion of purported consent came from former U.S. senator John Danforth\u2019s 2000 report covering up atrocities in the 1993 federal attacks on the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas. Danforth had been personally selected as Special Counsel to lead the investigation by Attorney General Janet Reno. Reno had been disgraced in late 1999 when her false denials that the FBI used pyrotechnics during their final attack on the Branch Davidians that left 80 people dead were exposed.<\/p>\n

Danforth, in a preface to his report, declared, \u201cOur country was founded on the belief that government derives its \u2018just powers from the consent of the governed.\u2019 When 61 percent of the people believe that the government \u2026 intentionally murders people by fire, the existence of public consent, the very basis of government, is imperiled.\u201d But Danforth \u2014 whose pious pretenses earned him the derisive \u201cSaint Jack\u201d nickname in Washington \u2014 championed a \u201cmove along, nothing to see here\u201d version of \u201cconsent of the governed.\u201d The lesson of Waco, according to Danforth, was that the burden is on \u201call of us\u201d to \u201cbe more skeptical of those who make sensational accusations of evil acts by government.\u201d Danforth declared that he hoped his report would \u201cbegin the process of restoring the faith of the people in their government and the faith of the government in the people.\u201d Danforth believed government officials had been wrongfully victimized by public distrust. With Danforth\u2019s version of \u201cconsent of the governed,\u201d the survival of democracy hinges on citizens believing government lies after mass killings. Rulers do not consent to having their subjects think badly of them.<\/p>\n

Danforth declared that \u201cthe only antidote to this public distrust is government openness and candor.\u201d But the feds became far more secretive since the 1990s. Federal agencies create more than a trillion new secret documents each year \u2014enough to fill 20 million filing cabinets. But we still have self-government because politicians swear all the secrecy is for our own good. As NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden observed, \u201cThe consent of the governed is not consent if it is not informed.\u201d The pervasive secrecy that has proliferated in post-9\/11 America has made it far more difficult for citizens to leash their rulers; Snowden\u2019s warnings on the creation of an \u201carchitecture of oppression\u201d are more relevant than ever.<\/p>\n

Not since the early 1980s has any president even hinted that the federal government lacks the consent of the governed. But only 17 percent of Americans in a 2014 poll said that government has the \u201cconsent of the governed.\u201d Only 23 percent of respondents in a 2017 poll said that they \u201ctrust the government to do the right thing\u201d most of the time. \u201cConsent\u201d has been lost in large part because the political ruling class scorns the values and preferences of the citizenry. Politicians have continually enlarged the arsenal of penalties and prohibitions that bureaucrats deploy against the people. Citizens did not \u201cconsent\u201d to being fettered with a $38+ trillion national debt, but presidents and members of Congress inflicted it regardless.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsent of the governed\u201d has little relevance to the day-to-day workings of Congress. \u201cLaw\u201d is simply a snapshot of the momentary self-interest of a majority of legislators. Politicians merely need enough votes for one hour to permanently expand government power.<\/strong><\/p>\n

American presidents sometimes talk as if voters\u2019 consent magically ensures that citizens will never be oppressed by government. In a 1982 speech to the German Bundestag, Reagan declared that NATO nations \u201coperate by a rule of law, not by terror or coercion. It is government with the consent of the governed.\u201d Speaking in 2009 to the Ghanian parliament, Obama lauded \u201cgovernments that respect the will of their own people, that govern by consent, and not coercion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The iron fist is not a fist if the person who commands it won the most votes in the prior election. Permitting people to vote makes all the shackles government attaches to them nonbindin<\/strong>g. Anyone who is beaten by government agents is not actually bruised, and anyone sent to prison because of a law enacted by elected politicians is still technically a free man. People who lose their land because of an arcane regulatory edict have lost nothing as long as they can still savor being obedient citizens.<\/p>\n

Government agencies structure their policies to make even more absurd presumptions of \u201cconsent\u201d in daily lif<\/strong>e. Because you traveled abroad, you supposedly consented to Department of Homeland Security agents examining and copying all the records on your cell phone or computer when you return to the United States. Because you bought an airline ticket, you supposedly consented to being pawed by a Transportation Security Administration agent, including an \u201cenhanced pat-down.\u201d Because you chose to use the Washington or New York subway, you have consented to a warrantless search of your backpack or purse by local police who receive a federal grant to conduct those \u201csecurity theater\u201d performances. Because you drive on government roads, you supposedly consented to federally funded license-plate scanners compiling a dossier of when and where you travel.<\/p>\n

Political consent is defined these days as rape was defined a generation or two ago: People consent to anything which they do not forcibly resist.<\/strong> Voters cannot complain about getting screwed after being enticed into a voting booth. Anyone who does not attempt to burn down City Hall presumably consented to everything the mayor did. Anyone who does not jump the White House fence or tries to storm into the Oval Office consents to all executive orders. Anyone who doesn\u2019t firebomb the nearest federal office building consents to the latest edicts in the Federal Register. And if people do attack government facilities, then they are terrorists who can be justifiably killed or imprisoned forever.<\/p>\n

British philosopher John Locke wrote his Treatises on Government <\/em>in the 1680s in part to establish a standard to justify resisting an oppressive government. Locke, who profoundly influenced the Founding Fathers, warned, \u201cMen can never be secure from tyranny, if there be no means to escape it, till they are perfectly under it.\u201d But in modern times, almost any elected government is automatically presumed legitimate when it invokes \u201cconsent of the governed.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

An earlier version of this piece was published by the Future of Freedom Foundation.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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James Bovard<\/em><\/strong> is the author of <\/em>Attention Deficit Democracy<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>The Bush Betrayal<\/em><\/a>, and <\/em>Terrorism and Tyranny<\/em><\/a>. His latest book is Last Rights: the Death of American Liberty<\/a>. Bovard is on the USA Today Board of Contributors. He is on Twitter at @jimbovard. His website is at <\/em>www.jimbovard.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cConsent\u201d as the Ticket for Tyranny James Bovard, Counterpunch, April 23, 2026 Facebook Twitter Reddit Bluesky Email Presidents have been perverting \u201cconsent of the governed\u201d for centuries. \u201cConsent of the governed\u201d was a signature line of the Declaration of Independence, and it has echoed in official declarations ever since Jefferson\u2019s time. President Harry Truman assured […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1785,52,45,739,4815,76],"class_list":["post-22584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-consent","tag-democracy","tag-freedom","tag-presidents","tag-shams","tag-tsa"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cConsent\u201d as the Ticket for Tyranny - 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\/2026\/04\/23\/consent-as-the-ticket-for-tyranny\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cConsent\u201d as the Ticket for Tyranny - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cConsent\u201d as the Ticket for Tyranny James Bovard, Counterpunch, April 23, 2026 Facebook Twitter Reddit Bluesky Email Presidents have been perverting \u201cconsent of the governed\u201d for centuries. \u201cConsent of the governed\u201d was a signature line of the Declaration of Independence, and it has echoed in official declarations ever since Jefferson\u2019s time. 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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. 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":"\u201cConsent\u201d as the Ticket for Tyranny - 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\/2026\/04\/23\/consent-as-the-ticket-for-tyranny\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u201cConsent\u201d as the Ticket for Tyranny - James Bovard","og_description":"\u201cConsent\u201d as the Ticket for Tyranny James Bovard, Counterpunch, April 23, 2026 Facebook Twitter Reddit Bluesky Email Presidents have been perverting \u201cconsent of the governed\u201d for centuries. \u201cConsent of the governed\u201d was a signature line of the Declaration of Independence, and it has echoed in official declarations ever since Jefferson\u2019s time. 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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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