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Freedom is whatever the president says it is, pending revision.

James Bovard

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James Bovard
Age: 68
Born: 1956
Born: July 22
Author
Journalist
Writer
Ames
Iowa
War
Pending
Revision
Antiwar
Says
Whatever
Freedom
Peace
President

More quotes by James Bovard

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Some of the folks on both sides might be sincere, but it does seem as if it is only the opposition that cares about the Bill of Rights most of the time.
James Bovard
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The more people expect from government, the more biased they become against limiting government power.
James Bovard
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Throughout history, politicians have used other people's property to buy themselves power. That is the primary achievement of the welfare state.
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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.
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There is no safe political refuge for those afraid to take responsibility for their own lives.
James Bovard
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It is absurd to expect governments to descend gradually, step-by-step into barbarism - as if there was a train schedule to political hell and people could get off at any stop along the way.
James Bovard
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It is amazing to think after all that has happened in this country in the last few years, the last few decades, that so many people have this blind faith that government is our friend and therefore, we don’t need protections against it.
James Bovard
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Politicians nowadays treat Americans like medical orderlies treat Alzheimer's patients, telling them anything that will keep them subdued. It doesn't matter what untruths the people are fed because they will not long remember. But in politics, forgotten falsehoods almost guarantee new treachery.
James Bovard
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It has been surprising to me that so few conservatives have voiced concern over the precedence that are being set in favor of suppression by this so-called conservative administration.
James Bovard
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We are asking the wrong question. The issue is not who should be trusted with all the power of the Presidency. Instead, we must ask how much power any candidate can be trusted with.
James Bovard
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As soon as people drop the reins on government, government will leash the people.
James Bovard
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Politicians as a class are dangerous, that people who are seeking power over us are not, by definition, our friends.
James Bovard
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Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
James Bovard
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The key question for many voters is: How much is the candidate offering for my vote?
James Bovard
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Dependency is the highest political good - at least for politicians. Since the 1930s, politicians have striven to leave no vote unbought.
James Bovard
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American democracy is capsizing as a result of the vast increase in the number of government dependents and government employees.
James Bovard
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The more government dependents, the more likely that democracy will become a conspiracy against self-reliance.
James Bovard
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If an election is simply a one-day snapshot of transient mass delusions, then this is not a very noble form of government.
James Bovard
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As we learned from the Clinton administration and much of the media, a machine gun in the hands of a federal agent is now a symbol of benevolence and concern for a child's well-being.
James Bovard
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Once freedom is equated with a certain material standard of living, confiscation becomes the path to liberation.
James Bovard