James Bovard Quotes - Page 2

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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

  Political, Vote, Politician

  James Bovard (2015). “Attention Deficit Democracy”, p.182, Macmillan

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• This is a case if the President is permitted to be above the law, then we no longer have a republic.

  James Bovard

  Law, President, India

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• No-knock police raids destroy Americans' right to privacy and safety. People's lives are being ruined or ended as a result of unsubstantiated assertions by anonymous government informants. ... Unfortunately, no-knock raids are becoming more common as federal, state, and local politicians and law enforcement agencies decide that the war on drugs justified nullifying the Fourth Amendment. ... No-knock raids in response to alleged narcotics violations presume that the government should have practically unlimited power to endanger some people's lives in order to control what others ingest.

  James Bovard

  War, Order, Should Have

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• Democracy is not freedom. Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to eat for lunch. Freedom comes from the recognition of certain rights which may not be taken, not even by a 99% vote. Those rights are spelled out in the Bill of Rights and in our California Constitution. Voters and politicians alike would do well to take a look at the rights we each hold, which must never be chipped away by the whim of the majority.

  James Bovard

  Taken, Two, Lunch

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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.

  James Bovard

  Risk, Liberty, Today

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• Some politicians are aware of the Bill of Rights. It seems that the opposition party is far more likely to invoke it, to wave it in the air, this is what we saw from a lot of republicans during the Clinton Administration, and we are seeing the same from Democrats under Bush.

  James Bovard

  Party, Rights, Air

  Interview with Aaron Zelman, jpfo.org.

  14 Copy quote

• Voting is no substitute for the eternal vigilance that every friend of freedom must demonstrate towards government. If our freedom is to survive, Americans must become far better informed of the dangers from Washington -- regardless of who wins the Presidency.

  James Bovard

  Winning, Government, Voting

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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.

  James Bovard

  Government, Numbers, People

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• For the average person walking down a dark street late at night, a promise from a politician is worth far less than a .38 Special.

  James Bovard

  Dark, Night, Average

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• The key question for many voters is: How much is the candidate offering for my vote?

  James Bovard

  Keys, Offering, Voters

  James Bovard (2015). “Attention Deficit Democracy”, p.183, Macmillan

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• The more that voting is glorified as a panacea, the more lackadaisical people become about preserving their constitutional rights.

  James Bovard

  Rights, People, Voting

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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

  Issues, Asking, Should

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• The Federal Government is exploiting public fear to redefine the relationship between the rulers and the American people.

  James Bovard

  Government, Usa, People

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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

  Rights, Two Sides, Doe

  "Talkin' to America" with Aaron Zelman, jpfo.org.

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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

  People, Achievement, Welfare

  James Bovard (2015). “Freedom in Chains: The Rise of the State and the Demise of the Citizen”, p.81, Macmillan

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• There is no safe political refuge for those afraid to take responsibility for their own lives.

  James Bovard

  Responsibility, Political, Safe

  James Bovard (2015). “Freedom in Chains: The Rise of the State and the Demise of the Citizen”, p.272, Macmillan

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• The more government dependents, the more likely that democracy will become a conspiracy against self-reliance.

  James Bovard

  Government, Self, Democracy

  James Bovard (2015). “Freedom in Chains: The Rise of the State and the Demise of the Citizen”, p.137, Macmillan

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• Freedom to vote is valuable primarily as a means to safeguard other freedoms.

  James Bovard

  Mean, Vote, Valuable

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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

  Children, Gun, Media

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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.

  James Bovard

  Government, Imagination, Political

  James Bovard (2015). “Freedom in Chains: The Rise of the State and the Demise of the Citizen”, p.146, Macmillan

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• The government's appearing to be a necessary evil does not oblige people to trust it. We face a choice of trusting government or trusting freedom-trusting overlords who have lied and abused their power or trusting individuals to make the most of their own lives.

  James Bovard

  Government, People, Evil

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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

  Government, One Day, Noble

  "Talkin' to America" with Aaron Zelman, jpfo.org.

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• However accurate or inaccurate the agency's numbers may be, tax law explicitly presumes that the IRS is always right -- and implicitly presumes that the taxpayer is always wrong -- in any dispute with the government. In many cases, the IRS introduces no evidence whatsoever of its charges; it merely asserts that a taxpayer had a certain amount of unreported income and therefore owes a proportionate amount in taxes, plus interest and penalties.

  James Bovard

  Government, Law, Numbers

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• Its contempt for citizens ... is so routine, and so unlimited, that the agency has become a kind of Frankenstein, running wild and terrorizing Americans at will. The IRS hypocritically requires mistake-free returns when its own books are in shambles. It demands exorbitant sums of money without regard to the accuracy of its claims. It doesn't hesitate to use every possible maneuver to get what it wants, sometimes destroying businesses -- and lives -- in the process.

  James Bovard

  Running, Mistake, Book

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• The more expansive government is, the more perils people face in daily lives, be it from IRS agents or from child support services, or from other agencies that often have little or no legal restraints on their power.

  James Bovard

  Children, Agency, Government

  Interview with Aaron Zelman, jpfo.org.

  7 Copy quote

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