The Capsizing of American Democracy by Future of Freedom Foundation April 26, 2010 American democracy is capsizing as a result of the vast increase in the number of government dependents and government employees. This has created a voting bloc that overwhelms every other potential force. H.L. Mencken quipped in the 1930s that the New Deal divided America into “those who work for a living and those who vote for a living” — a division truer now than ever before. In the era of the Founding Fathers, few things were more dreaded than “dependency” — not being one’s own man, not having a truly independent will because of reliance on someone or something else to survive. One of the glories of America was the possibility that common people could become self-reliant with hard work and discipline. Prof. John Philip Reid, the author of The Concept of Liberty in the Age of the American Revolution, summarized 18th-century political thinking: Property was ...
Warring as Lying Throughout American History by Future of Freedom Foundation April 26, 2010 Americans are taught to expect their elected leaders to be relatively honest. But it wasnt always like that. In the mid 1800s, people joked about political candidates who claimed to have been born in a log cabin that they built with their own hands. This jibe was spurred by William Henry Harrisons false claim of a log-cabin birth in the 1840 presidential campaign. Americans were less naive about dishonest politicians in the first century after this nations founding. But that still did not deter presidents from conjuring up wars. Presidential deceits on foreign policy have filled cemeteries across the land. George W. Bushs deceits on the road to war with Iraq fit a long pattern of brazen charades. In 1846, James K. Polk took Americans to war after ...
Will a Drug Warrior Be Hanged? by Future of Freedom Foundation March 25, 2010 Thailand’s billionaire prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, was deposed in a coup last year by the country’s military. Somchai Hom-la-or, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, recently declared that “Thaksin and his government committed crimes against humanity.” Thai lawyers and human-rights activists are suggesting that he be indicted and tried by the International Criminal Code for the thousands of killings committed by Thai police and other agents during his war on drugs. While the odds of Thaksin’s ever having to face charges for atrocities committed by his war on drugs are slim, it is refreshing that people are openly suggesting that an elected leader be held to account for his actions. Thailand’s war on drugs — vigorously approved by the Bush administration — has received far less attention in the United States than it deserves. When Thaksin launched his anti-drug campaign in 2003, ...
The Martial Law Act of 2006 by Future of Freedom Foundation April 26, 2010 Martial law is perhaps the ultimate stomping of freedom. And yet, on September 30, 2006, Congress passed a provision in a 591-page bill that will make it easy for President Bush to impose martial law in response to a terrorist “incident.” It also empowers him to effectively declare martial law in response to what he or other federal officials ...
The 9/11 Servility Reflex by Future of Freedom Foundation April 26, 2010 Many citizens react to their rulers like little kids who recognize that a stranger is acting suspiciously and may be up to no good — but then decide whether to trust the man depending on the type of candy he pulls from his pockets. It is as if a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup trumps the beady eyes, sweaty forehead, ...
The FBIs Right to Threaten Torture by Future of Freedom Foundation March 30, 2010 A federal appeals court has concluded that an FBI agent must go to trial on charges he coerced a false confession out of a prime suspect in the 9/11 attacks. But the FBI still insists that its agent did nothing wrong. And the feds swayed the court to suppress that portion of a recent decision detailing how the FBI ...
How Bogus Fears Bought Bush Four More Years by Future of Freedom Foundation April 2, 2010 Is a president entitled to frighten voters into submission to perpetuate his power over them? While many people are catching on to Bush’s deceits on Iraq, most Americans have forgotten the scams of his reelection campaign. George W. Bush was reelected in large part because he boosted the number of Americans ...
Bush’s AmeriCorps Fraud by Future of Freedom Foundation September 1, 2007 Politicians have long used moral doggerel to make citizens docile. Though President Bush is often verbally inept, he has hit the same chords his predecessors played to sway Americans to glorify government workers as moral icons worthy of gratitude and respect. Two months after the 9/11 attacks, ...
Drunken-Driver Checkpoints: Every Driver Guilty by Future of Freedom Foundation April 26, 2010 Tens of thousands of innocent Americans are stopped each month at police checkpoints that treat every driver as a criminal. These checkpoints, supposedly started to target drunk drivers, have expanded to give police more intrusive power over citizens in many areas. The demonization of alcohol is ...
The “Terrorist” Batting Average by Future of Freedom Foundation April 26, 2010 For almost six years, the Bush administration has acted as if every terrorism accusation it makes should be received as the word of God on Mt. Sinai. Assistant Attorney General Steven Bradbury declared at a Senate hearing last July, “Under the law of war, the president is always right.” Thus, the issue is settled after the president’s men formally ...
Ford’s Legacy: Lawless Government by Future of Freedom Foundation April 2, 2010 The death of former President Gerald Ford unleashed a tidal wave of bathos and political bunkum across the land. Ford was far more exalted in death than he had been during his time in office. Slate’s Timothy Noah critically noted, Within the narrow confines of Permanent Washington — the journalists, ...
War Lies and the 2004 Election by Future of Freedom Foundation April 26, 2010 Shortly after he was reelected, President Bush declared that American voters had had their “moment of accountability” regarding the Iraq war. Since he had gotten slightly more than 50 percent of the votes in the November 2004 election, that meant that they had ratified his policies and that Bush was free ...
