Quote

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.

James Bovard

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James Bovard
Age: 68
Born: 1956
Born: July 22
Author
Journalist
Writer
Ames
Iowa
States
Welfare
Restriction
Overlords
Today
Ideals
Permitted
Neutered
Find
Citizens
Wrapped
Certified
Risk
Liberties
Bureaucratic
Liberty
Obliged
Ruts
State
Narrow
Restrictions
Freedom
Citizen
Benevolent
Free
Ideal
Approved

More quotes by James Bovard

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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?
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Foreign aid breeds kleptocracies, or governments of thieves.
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There is no safe political refuge for those afraid to take responsibility for their own lives.
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It is one of the great tragedies of the US, that most learn most of what they know about the government from the government.
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The Federal Government is exploiting public fear to redefine the relationship between the rulers and the American people.
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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.
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The more people expect from government, the more biased they become against limiting government power.
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The more freedoms Americans lose, the more dangerous government becomes.
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How many McDonald's gift certificates would it take to sway a lot of Americans to pledge to never publicly criticize the U.S, President?
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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.
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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.
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Well, one of the first things is to restore the rule of law, to place the government back under the cage of law. Another thing is to stop falling for the myth of democracy.
James Bovard
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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.
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.
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Governments and citizens blend together only in the imaginations of political theorists. Government is, and always will be, an alien power over private citizens. There is no magic in a ballot box that makes government any less coercive.
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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.
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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Once freedom is equated with a certain material standard of living, confiscation becomes the path to liberation.
James Bovard
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If so many Americans are looking for the government to save them, then it is hard to have a dignified search for a shepherd in chief.
James Bovard
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Government aid programs have been endlessly expanded, and the government has sought to maximize the number of people willing to accept handouts..... Roughly half of all Americans are dependent on the government, either for handouts, pensions, or paychecks.
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