{"id":6616,"date":"2014-02-06T17:07:44","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T22:07:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=6616"},"modified":"2014-02-06T17:45:01","modified_gmt":"2014-02-06T22:45:01","slug":"leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/","title":{"rendered":"Leipzig Church Memories: Socialism&#8217;s Forgotten Toll"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/leipzig-painting-by-mendelssohn-bachchoir-director-BfzYSwrCMAEfesa.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-6617\" alt=\"leipzig painting by mendelssohn bachchoir director BfzYSwrCMAEfesa\" src=\"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/leipzig-painting-by-mendelssohn-bachchoir-director-BfzYSwrCMAEfesa-800x658.jpg\" width=\"560\" height=\"461\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/leipzig-painting-by-mendelssohn-bachchoir-director-BfzYSwrCMAEfesa-800x658.jpg 800w, https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/leipzig-painting-by-mendelssohn-bachchoir-director-BfzYSwrCMAEfesa-150x123.jpg 150w, https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/leipzig-painting-by-mendelssohn-bachchoir-director-BfzYSwrCMAEfesa.jpg 940w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The New York Review of Books posted this great\u00a0painting by Mendelssohn of the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.<\/p>\n<p>I wrote about that seeing that church in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Public-Policy-Hooligan-Rollicking-Washington-ebook\/dp\/B00AKZH97W\"><strong>Public Policy Hooligan<\/strong><\/a> &#8211; and in a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com\/New%20York%20Times%20Silent%20Spring%20in%20East%20Europe%201987.htm\">1987 New York Times <\/a>article on how socialism was ruining the East Bloc. Here&#8217;s the riff from Hooligan &#8211; from a jaunt during which I played cat-and-mouse with the Stasi:<\/p>\n<p>Leipzig, once the prettiest city in Germany, looked as if had been struck by a chemical plague. I saw many contorted trees that resembled a person writhing for his last breath. At the Thomas Church, where Martin Luther had preached, the right side of a statue of the Virgin Mary&#8217;s face showed a smile as angelic as when the church was reconstructed in the early 1700s. But, thanks to factories north of the city, the left side of her face was hideously disfigured, and an eye and an ear looked like they had been dug out with a pick.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere in the city, a stack of cannonballs from the Thirty Years War was being gnawed away like termites eating a woodpile. If the wind and fog cut through stone like it was cotton candy, what was it doing to humans?<\/p>\n<p>On a sunny day, visibility was only 800 yards; at the main train station, Soviet troops 25 yards away appeared in a haze. Though morning fog can be enchanting by a river, it is not as charming near a chemical factory.<\/p>\n<p>On the train from Leipzig to East Berlin, I passed through Bitterfeld, the center of East Germany&#8217;s chemical industry, where signs proclaimed: &#8220;Chemistry brings prosperity, beauty, and bread.&#8221; But happy slogans could not indemnify residents for a bronchitis rate five times higher than elsewhere in DDR. It was a common saying in East Germany: &#8220;Who was once in Bitterfeld thinks it is beautiful everywhere.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>East Germans bragged of the &#8220;victory of socialism over the land.&#8221; Unfortunately, much of Eastern Europe was becoming a vast graveyard for Mother Nature. Pollution was pervasive largely due to the deification of economic plans. The only question of success or failure was whether industrial output rose. As long as the factories roared, it didn\u2019t matter if people and everything else were dying.<\/p>\n<p>As the train neared East Berlin, I slipped into the bathroom and stuffed two small notebooks into the front of my underwear. Leaving the country by foot after entering by car guaranteed &#8220;heightened scrutiny&#8221; at the border.<\/p>\n<p>I shifted into my &#8220;Honest Abe&#8221; routine and scribbled that I was only &#8220;four or five lies from freedom.&#8221; I expected I would need the same song and dance to leave the country that I used at Zinnenwald to get in.<\/p>\n<p>After the Schnellzeug (fast train) arrived in East Berlin an hour late, I hot-footed to the Friedrichstrasse station &#8211; the only subway stop where people could cross to West Berlin. The station\u2019s main entrance room was known as the Tr\u00e4nenpalast (&#8220;Palace of Tears&#8221;) &#8211; because of people whose lives were shattered when East German guards prohibited them from exiting.<\/p>\n<p>As I waited in the long queue, I reminded myself not to hum Arlo Guthrie\u2019s song line, &#8220;Please don\u2019t touch my bag, Mr. Customs Man.&#8221; My turn arrived and I explained in bad German to a grim-faced border guard why I didn\u2019t have my car. He ordered me to await the Commandant. &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New York Review of Books posted this great\u00a0painting by Mendelssohn of the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. I wrote about that seeing that church in Public Policy Hooligan &#8211; and in a 1987 New York Times article on how socialism was ruining the East Bloc. Here&#8217;s the riff from Hooligan &#8211; from a jaunt [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[123],"class_list":["post-6616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-public-policy-hooligan"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Leipzig Church Memories: Socialism&#039;s Forgotten Toll - 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\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leipzig Church Memories: Socialism&#039;s Forgotten Toll - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The New York Review of Books posted this great\u00a0painting by Mendelssohn of the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. I wrote about that seeing that church in Public Policy Hooligan &#8211; and in a 1987 New York Times article on how socialism was ruining the East Bloc. Here&#8217;s the riff from Hooligan &#8211; from a jaunt [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/\" \/>\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=\"2014-02-06T22:07:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-02-06T22:45:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/leipzig-painting-by-mendelssohn-bachchoir-director-BfzYSwrCMAEfesa.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"940\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"774\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/06\\\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/06\\\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"headline\":\"Leipzig Church Memories: Socialism&#8217;s Forgotten Toll\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-02-06T22:07:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-02-06T22:45:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/06\\\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":574,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/06\\\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/leipzig-painting-by-mendelssohn-bachchoir-director-BfzYSwrCMAEfesa.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Public Policy Hooligan\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/06\\\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/06\\\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/06\\\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\\\/\",\"name\":\"Leipzig Church Memories: Socialism's Forgotten Toll - James Bovard\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/06\\\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/06\\\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/leipzig-painting-by-mendelssohn-bachchoir-director-BfzYSwrCMAEfesa.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-02-06T22:07:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-02-06T22:45:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/06\\\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/06\\\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/06\\\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/leipzig-painting-by-mendelssohn-bachchoir-director-BfzYSwrCMAEfesa.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/leipzig-painting-by-mendelssohn-bachchoir-director-BfzYSwrCMAEfesa.jpg\",\"width\":940,\"height\":774},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/06\\\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Leipzig Church Memories: Socialism&#8217;s Forgotten Toll\"}]},{\"@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. 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":"Leipzig Church Memories: Socialism's Forgotten Toll - 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\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Leipzig Church Memories: Socialism's Forgotten Toll - James Bovard","og_description":"The New York Review of Books posted this great\u00a0painting by Mendelssohn of the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. I wrote about that seeing that church in Public Policy Hooligan &#8211; and in a 1987 New York Times article on how socialism was ruining the East Bloc. Here&#8217;s the riff from Hooligan &#8211; from a jaunt [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/","og_site_name":"James Bovard","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","article_published_time":"2014-02-06T22:07:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-02-06T22:45:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":940,"height":774,"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/leipzig-painting-by-mendelssohn-bachchoir-director-BfzYSwrCMAEfesa.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jim","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@jimbovard","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/"},"author":{"name":"Jim","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"headline":"Leipzig Church Memories: Socialism&#8217;s Forgotten Toll","datePublished":"2014-02-06T22:07:44+00:00","dateModified":"2014-02-06T22:45:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/"},"wordCount":574,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/leipzig-painting-by-mendelssohn-bachchoir-director-BfzYSwrCMAEfesa.jpg","keywords":["Public Policy Hooligan"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/","name":"Leipzig Church Memories: Socialism's Forgotten Toll - James Bovard","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/leipzig-painting-by-mendelssohn-bachchoir-director-BfzYSwrCMAEfesa.jpg","datePublished":"2014-02-06T22:07:44+00:00","dateModified":"2014-02-06T22:45:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/leipzig-painting-by-mendelssohn-bachchoir-director-BfzYSwrCMAEfesa.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/leipzig-painting-by-mendelssohn-bachchoir-director-BfzYSwrCMAEfesa.jpg","width":940,"height":774},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/leipzig-church-memories-socialisms-forgotten-toll\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Leipzig Church Memories: Socialism&#8217;s Forgotten Toll"}]},{"@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. 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\/6616","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=6616"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6622,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6616\/revisions\/6622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}