James Bovard
James Bovard
James Bovardis a libertarian author and lecturer whose political commentary targets examples of waste, failures, corruption, cronyism and abuses of power in government. He is the author of Attention Deficit Democracy, and eight other books. He has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New Republic, Reader's Digest, The American Conservative, and many other publications. His books have been translated into Spanish, Arabic, Japanese, and Korean...
ProfessionAuthor
government political liberty
Liberty is a political firewall that limits the damage government can do to the individual.
risk liberty citizens
Today's citizen is obliged to find his freedom only in the narrow ruts pre-approved by his bureaucratic overlords. "Risk-free liberty" is the ideal of the Welfare State: citizens are permitted only liberties which have been declawed, defanged, neutered, certified and wrapped in benevolent restrictions.
government liberty lists
The only things government can do are regulate and redistribute, prohibit and penalize, confiscate and command. Are these the things that liberty is made of? Somebody else's money and an endless list of Thou Shalt Nots?
law government liberty
There is no virtue in denying the law of gravity, and there should be no virtue in denying the limitations of government. ... The more we glorify government, the more liberties we will lose.
government important liberty
If citizens wish to retain their liberty, they cannot assume that those who seek power over them are honest. Skepticism of government is one of the most important-and most forgotten-bulwarks of freedom.
political liberty fundamentals
The first step in saving our liberty is to realize how much we have already lost, how we lost it, and how we will continue to lose it unless fundamental political changes occur.
law america liberty
America needs fewer laws, not more prisons.
avoid bush evidence example fought locked produce somebody stuff torture
This stuff on enemy combatants, the Bush Administration has fought like a tiger to avoid having to produce any evidence to a judge to show why somebody is locked up in perpetuity. Another example of that is the torture scandal.
attention death deficit entire fear government lying mass people putting system trying wake
With attention deficit democracy, I am trying to wake up people to how the combination of mass ignorance, fear mongering by the government, and lying politicians is putting our entire system of government to a death spiral.
government importance leash people
Trumpeting the importance of voting deludes people into thinking that they have a leash on the government.
benefits far government system type
There are a lot of benefits representative of government and it is far better than any type of dictatorial system and it is far better than a one-man rule situation.
against clinton easy gun rights surprised
I was also surprised at how easy it was for the Clinton Administration to demagogue against the rights of gun owners, for instance.
government obliged
It is like we are obliged to assume that the government is only doing what it says it is doing.
government thieves aids
Foreign aid breeds kleptocracies, or governments of thieves.