Some epigrams from the books of James Bovard
Dana Mathewson
From "Friend Eddie"
----------------------------------------------------
"Fair Trade Fraud: How Congress Pillages the Consumer and Decimates American Competitiveness" (1991)
• Government cannot make trade more fair by making it less free.
• "Fair trade" is a moral delusion that could be leading to an economic catastrophe.
• The US government has created a trade lynch law that can convict foreign companies almost regardless of how they operate.
• American trade negotiators have exerted far more effort to close the US market than to open foreign markets.
• It should not be a federal crime to charge low prices to American consumers.
• The myth of fair trade is that politicians and bureaucrats are fairer than markets – that government coercion and restriction can create a fairer result than voluntary agreement – and that prosperity is best achieved by arbitrary political manipulation, rather than allowing each individual and company to pursue their own interest.
• Our great grandchildren may look back at the trade wars of the twentieth century with the same contempt that many people today look at the religious wars of the seventeenth century – as a senseless conflict over issues that grown men should not fight about.
"Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty" (1994)
• America needs fewer laws, not more prisons.
• It is important to have a sounder distinction between democracy and thievery than simply counting votes.
• Beggaring the taxpayer is the main achievement of the welfare state. The federal tax system has turned individuals into sharecroppers of their own lives.
• The key to contemporary American political thinking is the neutering of the State – the idea that modern government has been defanged, domesticated, tamed.
• A law is simply a reflection of the momentary perception of self-interest by a majority of a legislative body.
• Politicians have sought to maximize social progress by maximizing the number of people labeled to be criminals.
• Without a realistic concept of government, political philosophy is only an exercise in moral aesthetics.
"Shakedown" (1995)
James Bovard: In this short 1995 book, I sought to mix muckraking and mirth – to shock readers at the same time I provoked belly laughs. The book had volley after volley of bureaucratic rampages involving asset forfeiture, HUD, the Food and Drug Administration, money laundering, the Endangered Species Act and even breast-feeding (as far as it related to harebrained child abuse accusations). I sought to plant the seeds of skepticism in readers' minds by vivifying how, across the board, government was far more abusive, oppressive and deceptive than they suspected.
"Freedom in Chains: The Rise of the State and the Demise of the Citizen" (1999)
• Paternalism is a desperate gamble that lying politicians will honestly care for those who fall under their power.
• The Night Watchman State has been replaced by Highway Robber States – governments in which no asset, no contract, no domain is safe from the fleeting whim of politicians.
• So much of political philosophy throughout history has consisted of concocting reasons why people have a duty to be tame animals in politicians' cages.
• The surest effect of exalting government is to make it easier for some people to drag others down.
• The growth of government is like the spread of a dense jungle, and the average citizen can hack through less of it every year.
• Trusting government nowadays means dividing humanity into two classes: those who can be trusted with power to run other people's lives, and those who cannot even be trusted to run their own lives.
"Feeling Your Pain: The Explosion and Abuse of Government Power in the Clinton-Gore Years" (2001) ...
• Clinton exploited and expanded the dictatorial potential of the US presidency.
• The power a politician acquires for government will survive long after his photo opportunities have faded.
• Faith in the coercive power of the best and brightest permeated Clinton administration policymaking.
• The lies that Clinton got away with were far more important than the ones on which he was caught.
• The better that people understand what Clinton did in office, the greater the nation's chances for political recovery.
"Terrorism and Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Justice, and Peace to Rid the World of Evil" (2003)
• Nothing happened on 9/11 that made the federal government more trustworthy.
• The Patriot Act treats every citizen like a suspected terrorist and every federal agent like a proven angel.
• The worse government fails, the less privacy citizens supposedly deserve.
• There is no technological magic bullet that will make the government as smart as it is powerful.
• Killing foreigners is no substitute for protecting Americans.
• It is impossible to destroy all alleged enemies of freedom everywhere without also destroying freedom in the United States.
• A lie that is accepted by a sufficient number of ignorant voters becomes a political truth.
• Citizens should distrust politicians who distrust freedom.
• In the long run, people have more to fear from governments than from terrorists. Terrorists come and go, but power-hungry politicians will always be with us.
• Habeas corpus is an insurance policy to prevent governments from going berserk.
"The Bush Betrayal" (2005)
• Truth is a lagging indicator in politics.
• The arrogance of power is the best hope for the survival of freedom.
• We need a constitutional amendment to make the federal government obey the Constitution.
• There are no harmless political lies about a war. The more such lies citizens tolerate, the more wars they will get.
• People have been taught to expect far more from government than from freedom.
• Neither Washington nor Jefferson ever intended for the President of the United States to become the Torturer-in-Chief.
"Attention Deficit Democracy" (2006)
• In recent years, Americans have devoted far more effort to spreading democracy than to understanding it.
• Rather than a democracy, we increasingly have an elective dictatorship. People are merely permitted to choose who will violate the laws and the Constitution.
• Instead of revealing the "will of the people," election results are often only a one-day snapshot of transient mass delusions.
• A democratic government that respects no limits on its own power is a ticking time bomb, waiting to destroy the rights it was created to protect.
• Bogus fears can produce real servitude.
• As long as rulers are above the law, citizens have the same type of freedom that slaves had on days when their masters chose not to beat them.
• Democracy unleashes the State in the name of the people.
• The more that democracy is assumed to be inevitable, the more likely it will self-destruct.
• Attention Deficit Democracy produces the attitudes, ignorance and arrogance that pave the way to political collapse.
From "Friend Eddie"
----------------------------------------------------
"Fair Trade Fraud: How Congress Pillages the Consumer and Decimates American Competitiveness" (1991)
• Government cannot make trade more fair by making it less free.
• "Fair trade" is a moral delusion that could be leading to an economic catastrophe.
• The US government has created a trade lynch law that can convict foreign companies almost regardless of how they operate.
• American trade negotiators have exerted far more effort to close the US market than to open foreign markets.
• It should not be a federal crime to charge low prices to American consumers.
• The myth of fair trade is that politicians and bureaucrats are fairer than markets – that government coercion and restriction can create a fairer result than voluntary agreement – and that prosperity is best achieved by arbitrary political manipulation, rather than allowing each individual and company to pursue their own interest.
• Our great grandchildren may look back at the trade wars of the twentieth century with the same contempt that many people today look at the religious wars of the seventeenth century – as a senseless conflict over issues that grown men should not fight about.
"Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty" (1994)
• America needs fewer laws, not more prisons.
• It is important to have a sounder distinction between democracy and thievery than simply counting votes.
• Beggaring the taxpayer is the main achievement of the welfare state. The federal tax system has turned individuals into sharecroppers of their own lives.
• The key to contemporary American political thinking is the neutering of the State – the idea that modern government has been defanged, domesticated, tamed.
• A law is simply a reflection of the momentary perception of self-interest by a majority of a legislative body.
• Politicians have sought to maximize social progress by maximizing the number of people labeled to be criminals.
• Without a realistic concept of government, political philosophy is only an exercise in moral aesthetics.
"Shakedown" (1995)
James Bovard: In this short 1995 book, I sought to mix muckraking and mirth – to shock readers at the same time I provoked belly laughs. The book had volley after volley of bureaucratic rampages involving asset forfeiture, HUD, the Food and Drug Administration, money laundering, the Endangered Species Act and even breast-feeding (as far as it related to harebrained child abuse accusations). I sought to plant the seeds of skepticism in readers' minds by vivifying how, across the board, government was far more abusive, oppressive and deceptive than they suspected.
"Freedom in Chains: The Rise of the State and the Demise of the Citizen" (1999)
• Paternalism is a desperate gamble that lying politicians will honestly care for those who fall under their power.
• The Night Watchman State has been replaced by Highway Robber States – governments in which no asset, no contract, no domain is safe from the fleeting whim of politicians.
• So much of political philosophy throughout history has consisted of concocting reasons why people have a duty to be tame animals in politicians' cages.
• The surest effect of exalting government is to make it easier for some people to drag others down.
• The growth of government is like the spread of a dense jungle, and the average citizen can hack through less of it every year.
• Trusting government nowadays means dividing humanity into two classes: those who can be trusted with power to run other people's lives, and those who cannot even be trusted to run their own lives.
"Feeling Your Pain: The Explosion and Abuse of Government Power in the Clinton-Gore Years" (2001) ...
• Clinton exploited and expanded the dictatorial potential of the US presidency.
• The power a politician acquires for government will survive long after his photo opportunities have faded.
• Faith in the coercive power of the best and brightest permeated Clinton administration policymaking.
• The lies that Clinton got away with were far more important than the ones on which he was caught.
• The better that people understand what Clinton did in office, the greater the nation's chances for political recovery.
"Terrorism and Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Justice, and Peace to Rid the World of Evil" (2003)
• Nothing happened on 9/11 that made the federal government more trustworthy.
• The Patriot Act treats every citizen like a suspected terrorist and every federal agent like a proven angel.
• The worse government fails, the less privacy citizens supposedly deserve.
• There is no technological magic bullet that will make the government as smart as it is powerful.
• Killing foreigners is no substitute for protecting Americans.
• It is impossible to destroy all alleged enemies of freedom everywhere without also destroying freedom in the United States.
• A lie that is accepted by a sufficient number of ignorant voters becomes a political truth.
• Citizens should distrust politicians who distrust freedom.
• In the long run, people have more to fear from governments than from terrorists. Terrorists come and go, but power-hungry politicians will always be with us.
• Habeas corpus is an insurance policy to prevent governments from going berserk.
"The Bush Betrayal" (2005)
• Truth is a lagging indicator in politics.
• The arrogance of power is the best hope for the survival of freedom.
• We need a constitutional amendment to make the federal government obey the Constitution.
• There are no harmless political lies about a war. The more such lies citizens tolerate, the more wars they will get.
• People have been taught to expect far more from government than from freedom.
• Neither Washington nor Jefferson ever intended for the President of the United States to become the Torturer-in-Chief.
"Attention Deficit Democracy" (2006)
• In recent years, Americans have devoted far more effort to spreading democracy than to understanding it.
• Rather than a democracy, we increasingly have an elective dictatorship. People are merely permitted to choose who will violate the laws and the Constitution.
• Instead of revealing the "will of the people," election results are often only a one-day snapshot of transient mass delusions.
• A democratic government that respects no limits on its own power is a ticking time bomb, waiting to destroy the rights it was created to protect.
• Bogus fears can produce real servitude.
• As long as rulers are above the law, citizens have the same type of freedom that slaves had on days when their masters chose not to beat them.
• Democracy unleashes the State in the name of the people.
• The more that democracy is assumed to be inevitable, the more likely it will self-destruct.
• Attention Deficit Democracy produces the attitudes, ignorance and arrogance that pave the way to political collapse.
posted by Timothy Birdnow | 12:26 PM
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