Jim Bovard | The Libertarian Institute

Waco and the Death of Congressional Oversight

by Jim Bovard | Jul 22, 2025 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles, Politics

How many atrocities can the federal government get away with? Americans are still vexed by the answers that Congress failed to deliver in 1995. Thirty summers ago, Washington was fixated by a Capitol Hill showdown over the greatest federal abuse of power of the decade. Unfortunately, trusting congressional hearings to discover the truth is like trusting a roomful of monkeys with typewriters to write great novels—it might happen, but only in an eternity. As comedian Milton Berle quipped long ago, “You can send a man to Congress but you can’t make him think.” On February 28, 1993, scores of...

The 1775 Two Step That Led to American Independence

by Jim Bovard | Jul 2, 2025 | Featured Articles, History

As Americans prepare to celebrate the 249th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we should also toast the 250th anniversary of a savvy political two-step that paved the way to formally breaking with Britain the following year. “We, your Majesty’s faithful subjects...” began the petition beseeching reconciliation with King George from the Second Continental Congress on July 5, 1775. That offering became known as the Olive Branch Petition. The following day, Congress issued its Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, explaining why hostile British troops would...

Mencken’s Forgotten Wisdom on War

by Jim Bovard | Jun 25, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, History

As a stampede of weasels just sought to con America into supporting another Mideast war, it is time remember America’s most underrated critic of bellicose folly. H.L. Mencken is famous for his smackdowns of politicians and ridicule of government and of much of American culture. But he also offered sage advice for citizens judging officialdom itching for carnage. On May 9, 1939, The Baltimore Sun published Mencken’s essay on “The Art of Selling War.” This piece, included in the Second Mencken Chrestomathy published in 1995, deserves a far higher position in the Mencken and antiwar pantheon....

Trump Bombs Iran: Bovard’s First Penalty Flags

by Jim Bovard | Jun 22, 2025 | Blog

If only the Japanese had issued a "time for peace" statement after bombing Pearl Harbor like Trump did tonight. Shakespeare wrote: "Cry havoc and loose the dogs of war." Trump had his 4 minute victory lap statement tonight. Will he still be strutting on Independence Day? pic.twitter.com/gfBDrkaeeW — James Bovard (@JimBovard) June 22, 2025 Is the MAGA flip-flop embracing Trump's warmongering on Iran as dramatic as the Communist Party's 1939 flip-flop on Hitler after the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was announced? @mtracey @paleoliberal @DanielLMcAdams pic.twitter.com/aJHRETjZFZ — James...

COVID Doubts Made You a ‘Violent Extremist’

by Jim Bovard | Jun 2, 2025 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles

Biden administration policymakers hated you more than you knew. Four years ago, I warned at the Libertarian Institute: “Libertarians are in the federal crosshairs…Many libertarians assume they have nothing to fear because they are not engaged in seeking to violently overthrow the government. But the feds will be able to find many other pretexts to target peaceful citizens with supposedly subversive ideas.” Three years ago, I warned at the Institute that White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was damning anyone who did not kowtow to the regime: “’When you are not with what majority of...

163rd Anniversary of Stonewall Jackson’s Victory in the Battle of Front Royal

by Jim Bovard | May 23, 2025 | Blog, History

This is reprinted from Jim Bovard's blog and expands on a post originally from 2023. Today is the 163th anniversary of the battle of Front Royal, Virginia (the town near where I was raised). On May 23, 1862, almost all the Yankee soldiers in Front Royal were captured, killed or wounded during a surprise attack by Jackson’s “foot calvary.” Both sides fought valiantly, but the northerners were greatly outnumbered. Their commander, Col. John Reese Kenly, was my great-great-uncle and the source of the first name that my father hated. According to the Civil War historical marker by the courthouse...

Political Slavery in the COVID Era

by Jim Bovard | May 12, 2025 | Featured Articles

In 1977, East Germany ransomed hundreds of its leading intellectuals and artists to West Germany, partly because it did not wish to endure public criticism by its own citizens during an International Rights Conference. In spite of the human sale, there was no general revulsion against the East German government in the international community. The East German regime was considered by many social scientists to have more legitimacy than the West German government, because of its more expansive social welfare system and its grandiose paternalist pretensions. How many of its citizens does a...

Op-Ed Writer Freed by Federal Judge

by Jim Bovard | May 9, 2025 | Blog

Federal judge orders Trump administration to release Tufts University grad student Rumeysa Ozturk from ICE lockup. Ozturk, who had a valid student visa from Turkey, was only guilty of writing an op-ed. Secretary of State Marco Rubio vilified her and Department of Homeland Security officials claimed Ozturk had other sweeping offenses, including that she “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.” But the feds could provide no evidence after locking her up for six weeks. Federal judge William Sessions III declared...