James Bovard

“It is one of the great tragedies of the US, that most learn most of what they know about the government from the government.”

“I was amazed at how easy it was for the Clinton Administration to basically cover what they did at Waco in the fog of lies and avoid any responsibility for it.”

“It has been surprising to me that so few conservatives have voiced concern over the precedence that are being set in favor of suppression by this so-called conservative administration.”

“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.”

“How many McDonald's gift certificates would it take to sway a lot of Americans to pledge to never publicly criticize the U.S, President?”

“Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.”

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

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

“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.”

“There are a lot of benefits representative of government and it is far better than any type of dictatorial system and it is far better than a one-man rule situation.”

“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.”

“It is hard to know how many people do, but given that the people are so docile towards the rulers, nowadays, very few Americans show the passion for freedom that our forefathers had.”

“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, so we don't need protections against it.”

“As long as enough people can be frightened, then all people can be ruled. That is how it works in a democratic system and mass fear becomes the ticket to destroy rights across the board.”

“People are so docile right now. It is almost as if good government means when the politicians lie to us for our own good, for the public good, and bad government is when politicians lie for their own selfish interests.”

“It is important to recognize and politics positive thinking is often the slaves' virtue - something that people do to con themselves about the burden and change being placed upon them.”

“This stuff on enemy combatants, the Bush Administration has fought like a tiger to avoid having to produce any evidence to a judge to show why somebody is locked up in perpetuity. Another example of that is the torture scandal.”

“It is like we are obliged to assume that the government is only doing what it says it is doing.”

“The vision that the founding fathers had of rule of law and equality before the law and no one above the law, that is a very viable vision, but instead of that, we have quasi mob rule.”

“Trumpeting the importance of voting deludes people into thinking that they have a leash on the government.”