Who Are the Biggest Enemies of Freedom? Vote Now!

To celebrate Reason's 45th anniversary as a monthly magazine, earlier today we named our 45 Enemies of Freedom, a motley crew of politicians, despots, intellectuals, crackpots, and crony capitalists who have done their utmost to make the world worse since 1968. If you haven't read the list, do so right now. But we also want to hear from you, dear reader. Who did we leave out? Cast your votes below for the biggest enemies of freedom and we'll announce the results tomorrow.

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Comments

[Pro Libertate]

Huh. The Reason list includes dead people, which could make this a little unwieldy. I'll have to think about it, but I think I'll focus on the living, who are much more of a threat.

[Tim]

You know who else is dead?

[CE]

George Washington?

[Averroes Ibn Rushd]

The Military-Industrial Complex.
The Prison-Industrial Complex.

That is all.

[Mr. Soul]

the Academic-Industrial Complex trumps both.

[Almanian!]

The Industrial-Industrial Complex really controls all the other Complexes

[Doctor Whom]

It's evil corporations all the way down.

[0x90]

They're all in the same complex -- it's the Hammock Complex, on 3rd.

[CE]

Don't forget the Media-Industrial-CIA Complex.

[The Late P Brooks]

My list is liberally sprinkled with people who hold elected office in the City and State of New York.

[CatoTheElder]

Eric Holder, Janet Reno, John Ashcroft, and every other Attorney General
Bill Bennett
Rudy "Freedom-Is-About-Authority" Guiliani

[Dweebston]

Naomi Klein, eh? Seems like she's gradually come around to questioning power, although it's difficult to distinguish self-effacing audience-seeking from legitimate philosophical changes of heart.

Then again, I haven't bothered reading anything by Naomi Klein since I was a wee tot during the early Bush II years still sucking at progressivism's teat.

[Aloysious]

1. team blue
2. team red

There are two posters on these threads who are tied for third place. Their names will not be said. Their names cannot be said. Their names must not be said.

/Paraphrasing Herger "the Joyous" from 13th Warrior.

[Pro Libertate]

I cannot lift this.

Grow stronger.

[Aloysious]

Beautiful.

[Warty]

I listened!

[Restoras]

Just so you know, I named you, Warty, my 9th enemy of freedom.

[DesigNate]

Is it true if you say Warty's name three times into your monitor he appears and brings you back to his lair?

[Pro Libertate]

Don't be absurd. Monitors can't hear. You have to say it into one of his many, many listening devices.

[Aloysious]

OT: Had to listen to this after reading this article. Anyone who does not enjoy the mellifluous and dulcet tones of beautiful Metal please disregard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....oO-EJM7psA

[SugarFree]

The biggest enemy to freedom in the long run is stupidity and I don't know if anything can really ever slow its progress toward supremacy.

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a moron going HURR DURR, HURR DURR in a voting booth ? forever.

[PapayaSF]

There is a great deal of truth to this, but I think it's incomplete. I think most of the threat to freedom comes from normal or even quite smart people whose ideology has made them stupid. They sincerely believe that their leftist claptrap and other anti-freedom nonsense will help the poor and oppressed, and when it doesn't they think they haven't done enough, or that it's the fault of their opponents.

As I see it, that is the real key. If we can destroy the image of leftism as what hip/smart/concerned people believe, it'll be dead.

[SugarFree]

But if stupid people didn't fall for smart people's stupid ideology, there wouldn't be a problem. A minority of evil smart people can believe whatever they like so long as they can't impose it on me.

[PapayaSF]

I would say that the minority of deluded smart people have disproportionate influence. They control the Democratic Party, the school system, and the mainstream media. Break their collective hold over the stupid, and freedom wins.

[timbo]

The typical American is Frido from idiocracy.

[kinnath]

We the people are the fucking problem.

[kinnath]

We the people are the fucking problem.

[DesigNate]

You can say that twice.

[The Late P Brooks]

"We have met the enemy, and he looks vaguely familiar."

[The Late P Brooks]

imagine a moron going HURR DURR, HURR DURR in a voting booth ? forever.

You can't condemn an entire population of morons for the actions of a few, you collectivist.

[Dweebston]

HODOR.

[Almanian!]

MATT DAMON

[Restoras]

Dang, MATT DAMON is an enemy of freedom and I didn't include the cretin.

[Almanian!]

Yes I can. You may not like it, but I can.

/argumentative contrarian

[Fist of Etiquette]

The enemy of freedom is anyone who lacks empathy or reason. Anyone who cannot put himself in his neighbor's shoes, who doesn't bother to understand a stance before opposing it, or who believes he can direct the horde of state agents in any direction that will not ultimately circle back around to overrun his own position. Also, the meter readers where I work.

[Pro Libertate]

Although I'm pretty empathic, I'd say quite a few libertarians around here aren't.

[CE]

I don't get where you're coming from dude.

[Aloysious]

I feel you.

ha ha...

...

nevermind

[The Late P Brooks]

I can't be an empath; my boobs aren't nearly big enough.

[CE]

At least you don't have to wear a stupid purple jumpsuit and refrain from strangling Riker.

[Almanian!]

Please be sure to include the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association (RSPBA). They're the root of all evil.

[Almanian!]

You know who ELSE was an enemy of freedom?

Oh - I guess you do.

Carry on.

[Hyperion]

My list only includes living Americans. I don't see dead people or anyone outside the country as a big threat to my freedom.

[The Late P Brooks]

I don't see dead people or anyone outside the country as a big threat to my freedom.

What about Jesus? Huh?

HUH?

[Hyperion]

Oh yeah, I forgot about him and Buddha, I better go revise my list...

[Hyperion]

I wonder how this list will differ from the one posted today?

One thing I will bet on, is that Obama is on it.

[Surly Chef]

People.

[Auric Demonocles]

The answer is obviously Doherty, as he hates the freedom of alt-text.

[timbo]

2 enemies:
Nancy Grace is a fucking hog with a show that declares people guilty before the trials start.
HLN is the dingbat bimbo news hour and that stupid whore, Jennifer Westhoven is a mouthpiece for all things retarded left.

[CE]

Don't you be talkin' smack 'bout Robin. She can say whatever she wants. It's better with the Mute button.

[E. Zachary Knight]

My List was rather easy to put together:

The President
The Senate
The House of Representatives
The Governors of the 50 States
The Legislatures of the 50 States
The Main Stream Media
The Democratic Party
The Republican Party
The Commission on Presidential Debates
Everyone who supports the above

[16th amendment]

This is a bizarre list. Mixing Bloomberg with Pol Pot. Come on guys.

[Loki]

My list, in no particular order:

Barack Obama
Eric Holder
George W. Bush
Michael Bloomberg
Lindsey Graham
John McCain
Dianne Feinsten
Gen. Keith Alexander (as a proxy for the NSA)
Chuck "Bitchtits" Schumer
SWAT teams (as a proxy for militarized police forces in general)