Politics

The Folly of Blindly Trusting the Government

by James Bovard March 1, 2010

Democracy breeds gullibility. Lord Bryce observed in 1921, “State action became less distrusted the more the State itself was seen to be passing under popular control.” The rise of democracy made it much easier for politicians to convince people that government posed no threat, because they automatically controlled its actions. The result is that the brakes on government power ...

The Tumor in the War on Cancer

by Michael Tennant March 1, 2010

Gen. George S. Patton said, “Politicians are the lowest form of life on earth.” Indeed, one would be hard-pressed to find a group of people more eager to take advantage of others’ misfortunes to increase their own power and inflate their own egos than our so-called public servants. When it comes to exploiting tragedies, they are shameless. For a prime ...

The Disaster of Government-Run Businesses, Part 1

by Jim Powell March 1, 2010

Part 1 | Part 2 Barack Obama defied experience everywhere when he stubbornly claimed he could make a government-run health program work. The standard practice of any government-run business is to provide favored interest groups with something for nothing, forcing other people to pay for it, and there always seem to be complications. If Obama really wanted to see how ...

Once Again, Democracy Is Not Freedom (and We Are Not the Government)

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 21, 2010

President Bush and his neoconservative supporters were practically teary-eyed on election day in Iraq. No longer did it matter that the weapons of mass destruction that had been used to scare the American people into supporting the war didn’t exist. Or that thousands of U.S. troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis were now dead or maimed. Or that ...

The CIA and the Assassination of John Kennedy, Part 1

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2010

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 One of the strangest aspects of the investigation into John Kennedys murder was the reaction of federal officials. Whenever government officials are assassinated, the normal reaction of law enforcement is to pull out all the stops in an attempt to ensure that no one who was involved in the crime escapes punishment. Yet ...

The Bush Secrecy Legacy

by James Bovard January 1, 2010

Many Americans assumed that the Bush administration’s peril to their freedom ended when George Bush exited the White House on January 20, 2009. Unfortunately, the precedents the administration established continue to threaten Americans’ rights and liberties. This is stark on government secrecy. Shortly after the 2000 election, Vice President-elect Richard Cheney convened a task force on energy policy. After he ...

How a Rich and Proud Nation Went Broke

by Jim Powell January 1, 2010

Amidst a multitrillion dollar spending spree, President Obama apparently believes it’s inconceivable that a mighty nation such as the United States could go broke. Yet France, once the most powerful nation in Europe, went broke and was plunged into a revolution that consumed the king and queen. Germany was bankrupted by reparations following World War I as well as the ...

The Liberal Assault on the Poor, Part 1

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 2009

Part 1 | Part 2 Liberals say that they love the poor, needy, and disadvantaged. Unfortunately, however, the economic philosophy that liberals favor constitutes a direct assault on the economic well-being of the poor, along with nearly everyone else in society. Liberals claim to combat poverty in two principal ways. First, they use the force of government (e.g., income taxes) to ...

Barack Obama’s America [Must] Serve Plan

by Scott Shields December 1, 2009

Throughout Barack Obamas campaign for president, he expressed his desire to increase community service in America. He outlined his plan, called America Serves, on change.gov, the website that provided details of his presidential agenda and transition. A screen-shot of America Serves is still available at www.politicallore. com/images/change.jpg. President Obamas plan for community service is now described as a part of ...

Inconsistent Conservatives and Progressives

by Sheldon Richman November 23, 2009

Listening to the leading voices of conservatism and progressivism, one gets the feeling they are not quite listening to themselves. On any given day you are likely to hear each side make arguments against the other that fully apply to itself in some area of public policy. Progressives, for example, tend to be critical (though imperfectly so) of the military ...

Liberal Delusions about Freedom

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2009

To combat the town-hall protests that sprang up around the nation against President Obama’s health-care plan, one of the favorite tactics employed by liberals was to question the sanity of the protesters. Anyone who showed up at such meetings angrily protesting Obama’s plan to socialize medicine was termed a crazy. That was especially true if a protester happened to be ...

Frightening Voters into Submission

by James Bovard November 1, 2009

Former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge has a new book out that reveals that he almost resigned because the Bush administration was hustling bogus terror alerts before the 2004 election. Ridge’s revelation was not surprising to people who had closely followed the tactics Bush used to snare a second term. During the 2004 campaign, residents of swing states were under ...