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Suggest an Entry under this Topic | | Articles |
"Meet the New Boss. Same as the Old Boss", by Sheldon Richman, 11 Jan 2008
Related Topic: Voting
Examines politics and explains why politicians cannot be expected to lead the way to liberty
"Most people apparently like it that way. Politics is more like show-biz -- specifically, melodrama and soap opera -- than anything else. And people behave differently in the political realm than they do in the marketplace. (When was the last time you chose a car dealership because the salesman choked back tears on the thought he was losing your business?)" |
Bad Partisanship Drives Out Good, by Sheldon Richman, 30 Nov 2007
Differentiates between superficial and profound partisanship (loyalty to a party vs. to a set of principles) and the goals of the Unity08 group
"In my view, there can't be too much profound partisanship. Superficial partisanship distracts us from what we really should be arguing about. The proper question is not 'Who should lead?' but rather, 'What makes us think any political leader can make things better than people interacting freely can?'" |
Begrudging Another Battle of Ballot-Boxing, by Kenneth R. Gregg, 23 Nov 2006
Related Topics: Libertarian Party, The State, Taxation, Voting
"In politics, your vote publicly acknowledges that the question at issue can be rightfully decided by majority vote, and you tacitly agree to the consequences, whatever they may be. ... It may have been one vote short of unanimity or one less than a majority, it's your acceptance of the process which provides it with legitimacy." |
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Loving Ambiguity, by Charley Reese, 19 Feb 2007
"I have two phrases that I bet you can't define off the top of your head. They are 'national security' and 'national interests.' Politicians love these phrases precisely because they are both ambiguous and iconic almost in a religious sense. Who, after all, would wish to do anything to harm national security or fail to do what was necessary for our national interests?" |
Machiavelli and U.S. Politics, Part 1: Pattern and Perception, by Lawrence M. Ludlow, 15 Aug 2005
"This holds true for advice about when and how to deceive people, how to take advantage of religious beliefs, how to betray a trust, how to play off one group against another, how to determine when one should spend money liberally and when the purse strings should be pulled tight, when to instill fear, and when to be merciful." |
Machiavelli and U.S. Politics, Part 2: Ethics and Creating the Facts, by Lawrence M. Ludlow, 17 Aug 2005
"The lie was the 'constructed' reality ... that war against Iraq was justified by the threat of a smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud. The hypocrisy was that the United States, not Iraq, posed a significant threat to world peace — possessing more WMDs than the rest of the world combined." |
Machiavelli and U.S. Politics, Part 3: Lies and Appearances, by Lawrence M. Ludlow, 19 Aug 2005
Related Topics: George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald W. Reagan
"... Machiavelli's appraisal of the 'true believers' and sycophants who surround every power-hungry politician ... include ... citizens who believe governments can keep them safe from terrorists by stirring up hatred with interventionist foreign policies; parents who rely on public schools to educate children and on the insane war on drugs to keep them sober ..." |
Machiavelli and U.S. Politics, Part 4: War, by Lawrence M. Ludlow, 22 Aug 2005
Related Topic: War
"We've already addressed the administration's 237 lies about WMDs and links to terrorism ... the president concocted a plausible half-truth to cover his tracks. He claimed he had been misinformed by intelligence experts. The half-truth, of course, is that U.S. intelligence agencies are notoriously inaccurate ..." |
Machiavelli and U.S. Politics, Part 5: War Crimes and Atrocities, by Lawrence M. Ludlow, 24 Aug 2005
Related Topics: Vietnam, World War II
"In both wars of aggression just cited ... Neither politicians nor soldiers were acting on the conviction that liberty and free enterprise ultimately triumph over communism and tyranny. Instead, they acted on the shameful presumption that freedom requires the mass murder of people who pose absolutely no threat ..." |
Political Power and the Rule of Law, by Ron Paul, Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk, 5 Feb 2007
Related Topics: Rule of Law, The State
"The problem is that politicians are not supposed to have power over us--we're supposed to be free. We seem to have forgotten that freedom means the absence of government coercion. So when politicians and the media celebrate political power, they really are celebrating the power of certain individuals to use coercive state force." |
The Political Hoax Exposed, by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., Mises.org Daily Article, 10 Sep 2006
Related Topics: Alabama, Minimum Wage Laws
"Politicians ... affect a know-it-all posture and carry a bag of solutions to every problem, natural, human, and divine. They work to perfect the ability to fob off their solutions as sound reasoning even when they are snake oil or sheer poison. Still, one can only marvel at how successful they are at bamboozling the population." |
Piercing through Myths, Lies, and Stupidity, by George C. Leef, Freedom Daily, Aug 2006
Related Topics: John Stossel, Compulsory Education, Farming
"... the core of the book is about the false beliefs people hold regarding politics. Everywhere he looks — government schooling, regulations, environmental scare-mongering, subsidies, and so forth — Stossel sees that ordinary people have been fed a diet of baloney to cover up the fact that some people use politics to take life, liberty, and property from other people." |
Washington Logic, by Sheldon Richman, 22 Sep 2006
Related Topics: Washington, DC, Government, Taxation
"Note also that suspensions are temporary, assuring that lobbyists must return periodically to renew them. Of course opponents of suspensions also represent potential campaign contributions. Do you see why politicians tend not to be attracted to freedom? What would they have to do?" |
| Cartoons |
| It's Campaign Season!, by Chuck Asay, 29 Aug 2006 |
 The First Wordsmiths..., by Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, 6 Jul 2008 |
| The Political Zoology Field Guide - Today's Specimen: The Couching Tiger (Perpetuous Victimus), by Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, 8 Mar 2007 |
| The Political Zoology Field Guide - Today's Specimen: The Imperious Oneway (Status Thecoursus), by Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, 7 Mar 2007 |
| The Political Zoology Field Guide - Today's Specimen: The Meandering Panda (Lackus Convictionus), by Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, 6 Mar 2007 |
| The Political Zoology Field Guide - Today's Specimen: The Preconclusive Bullsheep (Noneedus Factsus), by Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, 9 Mar 2007 |
| The Political Zoology Field Guide - Today's Specimen: The Tone-Deaf Bloviator (Lipus Blatherus), by Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, 5 Mar 2007 |
| The Political Zoology Field Guide - Today's Specimen: The Venomous Blotoad (Vindictus Ignoramus), by Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, 10 Mar 2007 |
| Books |
Beyond Politics: Markets, Welfare, and the Failure of Bureaucracy
by Randy T. Simmons, William C. Mitchell, The Independent Institute, Sep 1994 |
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