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 by James Bovard - St. Martin's Press This is an important work, if for nothing more than its substantial documentation. But there is much more here. For anyone who has been victimized by Local, State, or the Federal Governments, this book will only serve as a chilling reminder. For others it may give a glimpse in an uncertain future.
BOOK REVIEW:   Freedom in Chains
by James Bovard St. Martin's Press
175 Fifth Ave
New York, NY 10010 Reviewed by bobby jennings This is an important work, if for nothing more than its substantial documentation. But there is much more here. For anyone who has been victimized by Local, State, or the Federal Governments, this book will only serve as a chilling reminder. For others it may give a glimpse in an uncertain future. The Judicial system in the US has been criticized as to providing "justice" according to what one can afford -- if one just considers that it has been estimated that around 75% of the black male population in the US is under some sort of Judicial supervision. Or even more stunning, a statistic reported recently in Time Magazine regarding the fate of "death row" inmates. One would think that folks that have been sent to death row would have had some reasonable protection under the laws of this country. In Illinois alone 11 people have been exonerated of all charges and released in the last 21 years, the exact number executed. A statistical fluke? Then consider this. Of the 139 people executed in Florida, Illinois, Georgia, Arizona, Okalahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana, California, and Ohio another 62 were exonerated, nearly 50%. I chose to disregard Texas as they have really been busy putting to death nearly 1 1/2 times as many people as the other states combined. Are our governments out of control? James Bovard makes a good case even if you disregard half of his conclusions. Synopsis Governments and bureaucracies are bigger and more controlling than ever. Today's citizen has less ability to control his or her own life than ever before. How did we get to this point? James Bovard, best-selling author of Lost Rights, shows how the State has become a behemoth that threatens to destroy the individual. Public policy today is permeated by "Statism"--the belief that government is inherently superior to the citizenry, that progress consists of extending the realm of governmental compulsion, and the vesting more arbitrary power in government officials will eventually make citizens happy. Reading through the history of the State and its war on the citizen, Bovard looks at thinkers as diverse as John Locke, Etienne de la Boetie, James Madison, and G.W.F. Hegel. He explores the original idea of the State; the corruption of the concept of freedom; how the rising number of government dependents is subverting democracy; and the ultimate fraud that is perpetrated as the State's benevolence. In these times of the Leviathan State, Freedom in Chains is must reading for everyone who took James Bovard's Lost Rights to heart, as well as for anyone trying to understand how government power has transformed self-reliant Americans into wards of the State. Table of Contents Introduction;
The Great Pretending: The State, Ideal & Real;
The Mirage of Welfare State Freedom;
Cagekeepers and Caretakers: Modern Democracy;
The Moral Glorification of Leviathan;
Sovereignty & Political Slavery;
Paternalism versus the Blessings of Liberty;
A Few Thoughts on an Ideal Political Order;
Taking Coercion Seriously;
Acknowledgments;
Notes;
Index.
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