James Bovard Quotes

27 Sourced Quotes

The more people expect from government, the more biased they become against limiting government power.

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

James Bovard
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
Not only has the number of government employees multiplied in recent decades, but the rise of government unions further stacks the political odds against private citizens.

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

James Bovard
American democracy is capsizing as a result of the vast increase in the number of government dependents and government employees.

James Bovard
The more powerful government becomes, the more abuses it commits and the more lies it must tell.

James Bovard
The more freedoms Americans lose, the more dangerous government becomes.

James Bovard
Dependency is the highest political good - at least for politicians. Since the 1930s, politicians have striven to leave no vote unbought.

James Bovard
The people = government doctrine is equivalent to political infantilism -- an agreement to pretend that the citizen's wishes animate each restriction or exaction inflicted upon him.

James Bovard
The only things government can do are regulate and redistribute, prohibit and penalize, confiscate and command. Are these the things that liberty is made of? Somebody else's money and an endless list of Thou Shalt Nots?

James Bovard
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
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
The sheer number of government employees and welfare recipients effectively transforms the purpose of government from maintaining order to confiscating as much as possible from vulnerable taxpayers.

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

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

James Bovard
It is absurd to expect governments to descend gradually, step-by-step into barbarism - as if there was a train schedule to political hell and people could get off at any stop along the way.

James Bovard
As soon as people drop the reins on government, government will leash the people.

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

James Bovard
Freedom is whatever the president says it is, pending revision.

James Bovard
America needs fewer laws, not more prisons. By trying to seize far more power than is necessary over American citizens, the federal government is destroying its own legitimacy. We face a choice not of anarchy or authoritarianism, but a choice of limited government or unlimited government.

James Bovard
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?

James Bovard
Once freedom is equated with a certain material standard of living, confiscation becomes the path to liberation.

James Bovard
There is no virtue in denying the law of gravity, and there should be no virtue in denying the limitations of government.... The more we glorify government, the more liberties we will lose.

James Bovard
A democratic government that respects no limits on its power is a ticking time bomb, waiting to destroy the rights it was created to protect.

James Bovard
The average American family head will be forced to do twenty years' labor to pay taxes in his or her lifetime.

James Bovard
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.

James Bovard