Quote

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.

James Bovard

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James Bovard
Age: 68
Born: 1956
Born: July 22
Author
Journalist
Writer
Ames
Iowa
Less
Alien
Makes
Aliens
Political
Governments
Coercive
Power
Boxes
Ballot
Together
Private
Theorists
Government
Citizens
Imaginations
Always
Magic
Ballots
Imagination
Blend

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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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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.
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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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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.
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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.
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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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The more people expect from government, the more biased they become against limiting government power.
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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.
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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 more government dependents, the more likely that democracy will become a conspiracy against self-reliance.
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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.
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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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There has been so much power concentrated. There is no leash on that power anymore and Americans face the situation that this power is getting momentum with each passing year with each presidency.
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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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Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
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As soon as people drop the reins on government, government will leash the people.
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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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Once freedom is equated with a certain material standard of living, confiscation becomes the path to liberation.
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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.
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