Indeed, those sentiments today probably have the tacit support of the great majority of Americans. Each chapter of this book is organized around an idea that has served as cover for the power grabs by the state. Prominent among them are democracy, fairness, sovereignty, equality, and pragmatism. Bovard s chapter on democracy is particularly well done. He takes on not democracy itself, but rather the extent to which democracy has been oversold as a protector of liberty.
Democracy is merely a means to select leaders.
Like government itself, Democracy can be more noble for what it prevents than for what it achieves. Of far greater import to the health of our liberty are restrictions placed on what those leaders can do. As the author aptly puts it, since there is no sure-fire method of choosing good rulers, the amount of power available to any ruler, good or bad, must be minimized. To illustrate the consequences of the idealist theory of the state, Bovard produces a depressing parade of trampled rights ranging from the state-sanctioned murders of the Branch Davidians at Waco to killing with kindness those it has entrapped in its welfare system. Indeed, the litany of depredations at times makes the reader feel things are hopeless.