{"id":3,"date":"2005-12-12T16:14:12","date_gmt":"2005-12-12T21:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2005\/12\/12\/death-spiral-of-american-democracy\/"},"modified":"2005-12-12T16:14:12","modified_gmt":"2005-12-12T21:14:12","slug":"death-spiral-of-american-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2005\/12\/12\/death-spiral-of-american-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Death Spiral of American Democracy?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Is American democracy in a death spiral<\/strong>? Do we now have democracy only in form &#8211; akin to the Soviet-era &#8220;People\u2019s Democracies&#8221; where\u00a0governments won every election? Will the combination of mass ignorance, lying politicians, and boundless government power be fatal to our remaining freedoms?<\/p>\n<p>These are some of the questions examined in my new book, <em>Attention Deficit Democracy<\/em>, due out in January from Palgrave. The public is increasingly on automatic pilot, paying less attention to each new war, each new power grab, each new bogus presidential proclamation.<\/p>\n<p>Attention Deficit Democracy lulls citizens into thinking that they have nothing to fear from the rising number of sticks and shackles that politicians and bureaucrats can use on them. Thanks to the Battered Citizen Syndrome, the more debacles government produces, the more voters cling to faith in their rulers. As a result, the U.S. government is becoming an elective dictatorship in which voters do little more than select who will\u00a0violate the laws and trample the Constitution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is American democracy in a death spiral? Do we now have democracy only in form &#8211; akin to the Soviet-era &#8220;People\u2019s Democracies&#8221; where\u00a0governments won every election? Will the combination of mass ignorance, lying politicians, and boundless government power be fatal to our remaining freedoms? These are some of the questions examined in my new book, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Death Spiral of American Democracy? - 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\/2005\/12\/12\/death-spiral-of-american-democracy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Death Spiral of American Democracy? - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Is American democracy in a death spiral? Do we now have democracy only in form &#8211; akin to the Soviet-era &#8220;People\u2019s Democracies&#8221; where\u00a0governments won every election? Will the combination of mass ignorance, lying politicians, and boundless government power be fatal to our remaining freedoms? These are some of the questions examined in my new book, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2005\/12\/12\/death-spiral-of-american-democracy\/\" \/>\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=\"2005-12-12T21:14:12+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\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/12\\\/death-spiral-of-american-democracy\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/12\\\/death-spiral-of-american-democracy\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"headline\":\"Death Spiral of American Democracy?\",\"datePublished\":\"2005-12-12T21:14:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/12\\\/death-spiral-of-american-democracy\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":172,\"commentCount\":1,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/12\\\/death-spiral-of-american-democracy\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/12\\\/death-spiral-of-american-democracy\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/12\\\/death-spiral-of-american-democracy\\\/\",\"name\":\"Death Spiral of American Democracy? - James Bovard\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2005-12-12T21:14:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/12\\\/death-spiral-of-american-democracy\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/12\\\/death-spiral-of-american-democracy\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/12\\\/death-spiral-of-american-democracy\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Death Spiral of American Democracy?\"}]},{\"@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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