Announcing Reason Reader Picks for the Top 10 Enemies of Freedom

Reason

To celebrate Reason's 45th anniversary as a monthly magazine, yesterday 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.

We also asked you, the readers, to name your own enemies. Nearly 300 of you rose to the challenge, with a total of 1,800 nominations.

Without futher ado, here are the winners and their vote tallies: 

1. Barack Obama (165)
2. Michael Bloomberg (87)
3. Nancy Pelosi (61)
4. Eric Holder (46)
5. George W. Bush (40)
6. John McCain (36)
7. Dianne Feinstein (34)
8. Harry Reid (30)
9. Lindsey Graham (25)
10. Hillary Clinton (22)

Honorable mentions go to The American Electorate, My neighbor, Complacency, skim milk, and Matt Welch.

Comments

[Joe M]

Robert Mugabe

[Warrren]

How is STEVE SMITH not in there?

[The Last American Hero]

Not a fan of Vital Information?

[Joe M]

I'm surprised nobody from North Korea made the cut.

[BakedPenguin]

Jong-Il is recently in hell, and Jong-Un, whic almost certainly deserving, hasn't really earned it yet.

[Loki]

Personally I limited my list to Americans, since there's not much the fat little shitstain Kim Jong-Un can do to fuck up my freedom. If the list had been longer, I would have included pretty much his entire family tree.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Skim milk is water that's lying about being milk.

[Fist of Etiquette]

How could I doubt that youtube would get that.

[Andrew S.]

Nick Gillespie's leather jacket didn't get any votes?

The list is too modern, but I can't argue with any of those 10 as enemies of freedom.

[hamilton]

At least they got Welch. Deservedly.

[Episiarch]

I guess my vote for Warty Hugeman was insufficient. I knew I should have voted for your mom.

[Aresen]

That list is remarkably parochial.

Realistically, I don't think any of them are in the same league as Putin, the Ayatollahs in Tehran, Bashir Assad, Kim the Turd or numerous other tyrants.

[Joe M]

We failed our cosmotarian betters, it's true.

[A Frayed Knot]

Parochial and ahistorical. It's as if nothing has happened outside of the US before the year 2000.

[CE]

Well, some of us were voting for enemies of OUR freedom, NOW. Not someone who hurt somebody sometime someplace.

[Francisco d Anconia]

This

[Almanian!]

This this

[Hyperion]

It's only because they are not sufficiently emboldened yet. Anyone on that list could be as bad or worse than Putin or Kim Jong Un, if you gave them the chance.

[Loki]

Personally I limited my list to current American wannabe tyrants.

[Jesus H. Christ]

I don't remember ever being asked. When was this poll taken? I take it as a personal slight that I was not asked to contribute. Welch, do you want me to feel slighted? I didn't think so.

[Hyperion]

Yesterday. Off on another of those 3 day hiatuses, battling Satan, were you?

[Jesus H. Christ]

"Battling Satan". Heh, is that what the kids are calling it nowadays? Yes, I was battling Satan, and I WON.

[Irish]

I'm surprised Bush made the list, considering that we're all a bunch of secretly Rethuglican Bushpigs.

[CE]

We all voted him in at number 10, anticipating that comment.

[Palin's Buttplug]

I would never use a hack term like "Rethuglican" although I proudly claim ownership of "Bushpig".

[Irish]

How is Rethuglican more of a hack term than Bushpig? Plus, you have a history with 'ratfucker' which is definitely a hack term since Weigel uses it.

[darius404]

you have a history with 'ratfucking'

FIFY.

[Palin's Buttplug]

No, just 165 of you are.

[darius404]

Needs moar christfag.

[Jordan]

Let the butthurt flow through you.

[Loki]

Because there's no way anyone could possibly see both Obama and BOOOOOSHITLER!!!!!!111!!!! as enemies of freedom...

[Francisco d Anconia]

Well, there are only two points of view.

BOOOOOOOOOSH!

[Virginian]

Maybe it's just me, but the first thing I consider is how much damage someone could do in the future. Which strikes W off the list, because all of his freedom destructing actions have already been taken.

I mean putting W on there is like putting FDR or LBJ on there. Sure it fits, but I think the real question is who's the worst going forward.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Using that line of reasoning the worst is possibly some 6 year-old no one has even heard of yet/

[Irish]

No, because you'd need to know that he's an enemy of freedom to put him on the list in the first place.

I realize logic isn't your strong suit, but you've really been going downhill lately. Seek mental help.

[Loki]

I think it's a symptom of his severe worsening butthurt over people being mean to his messiah.

[Lord Peter Wimsey]

Uh...unless that 6 year old has the Mark of the Beast and has already caused his nanny to hang herself, I don't think so.

[CE]

Hey, I got 7 out of 10 right!

Can't believe I forgot Pelosi and Reid.

I considered Lindsey Graham, but figured he was only Top 20.

[DesigNate]

I'm surprised that DiFi wasn't higher on the list.

[A Serious Man]

You know who else listed their enemies?

[Episiarch]

Arya Stark?

[wingnutx]

Need to end this list with 'Valar Morghulis'.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Is there gold in the village?

[Episiarch]

Silver, gems? Is there more food? Where is Lord Beric?

[Hyperion]

You know who else listed their enemies?

The guy at the top of the list?

[Francisco d Anconia]

Nixon?

[sarcasmic]

Love it when work blocks things like polls so I don't get to participate! Yay, work!

[Len Bias]

Bloomberg ahead of Pelosi?

To avoid Bloomberg, you only need to leave NYC. To avoid Pelosi, you must leave the US.

Bloomberg hasn't unleashed anything nearly as dangerous as ObamaCare.

[Hyperion]

Pelosi is too dumb to really be evil. To truly be evil, you have to have a fairly functional brain. Look at her(sorry), there's nobody home. She's just corrupt and stupid.

Now Hillary, otoh, there's the very definition of true evil.

[Len Bias]

I suppose, Bloomberg does seem more competent and intelligent than Pelosi.

I'm not sure that Hillary is really that smart or capable, or just being portrayed that way by the media.

Hopefully, we'll never have to find out.

[The Heresiarch]

I didn't see any mention of Moobs on that list.

[Joe M]

He was on my list!

[wingnutx]

The Moops were an enemy of freedom hundreds of years ago.

[The Last American Hero]

Phil Mickelson isn't evil, just misunderstood.

[Mickey Rat]

How did Andrew Cuomo not make this list, and Gingrich is twelfth? Cuomo is making godawful policy in one of the largest states in the country. Gingrich may have gone off the rails but he's been marginalized for the better part of a decade.

[Jerryskids]

The greatest enemies of freedom aren't going to make the list - the fact that nobody recognizes how dangerous they are is what makes them so dangerous.

I can't help but notice the conspicuous absence of from The List.

[Jerryskids]

EDIT BUTTON!

I meant to say 'the absence of from The List'.

[Jerryskids]

WTF? I'm not allowed to say ' '?

[Jerryskids]

This is scary - every time I say , it gets blanked out.

[Jerryskids]

[Generic Stranger]

The Squirrels hunger.

[Gladstone]

Do they hunger for your pants?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prVTMrb6JHo

So is this the guy who sued because of
something Warty posted?

[CE]

Well, if you were the real, stealth number one enemy of freedom, wouldn't you automatically intercept and edit out any mention of that fact online? Hmmm?

[Hyperion]

I didn't have Reid and Holder on my list. There's just so many douchebags that you can fit into a list of 10.

I knew Obamney was gonna win this though. If for no other reason that to rub it in that he wasn't on H&R's list.

[Hyperion]

But, McCain and Frankenfiend should have been higher on the list.

[Loki]

That's pretty close to my list. Instead of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Hillary, I had Chuck "Bitchtits" Schumer, Gen. Keith Alexander (as a proxy for the NSA in general), and police SWAT teams (as a proxy for militarized police in general).

[Hyperion]

We need another list of the 10 'things' that are the biggest enemies of freedom.

Congress gets my number one spot for that.

[Loki]

Top Three:
1. Congress
2. The Executive Branch
3. The SCOTUS

[Francisco d Anconia]

4. The media

[Shocked]

That was my one and only vote. The way they suck up to authority, their collectivist mentality and willingness to control the narrative to stoke fear and predujice for ratings enables all of the above.

[Francisco d Anconia]

I picked 8. Instead of Reid and Clinton, I had Schumer and the American media.

[johnl]

Even in an H&R election, nobody who I voted for won.

[CE]

Democracy is an evil plot to claim that you consented.

[Ornithorhynchus]

For some reason, I thought we were supposed to vote for people who weren't on Reason's list, so I had several of these disqualified in my mind.

Am I the only one who voted for Tony Blair and Gordon Brown? The UK was a reasonably free country not so long ago, and look at it now. (It's possible Cameron is just as bad, but I still don't know enough about him.)

[Rrabbit]

I actually did not vote for Bush because Cheney was already on the list.

I considered Tony Blair, but I could not make up my mind whom among all those cronies from the UK I should put on my list.

[oldtimer]

Chucky Schumer didn't make the list?
His performance in the House hearings about the Branch Davidian massacre alone should qualify him for inner circle mention.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

What, no Jenny McCarthy?

[JMos]

I only voted for people that weren't on reasons list and all 6 that aren't duplicates on this list I voted for. Great minds I guess.

[hotsy totsy]

How did everyone forget Warren Buffet? And Michael Moore. And Bill Maher.

[johnl]

I remembered Buffet.

[Russell]

Ask not what your country can do for you. It is probably listening in to your conversation.

[Almanian!]

The fact that the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association did NOT make the top 10 shows just how far their evil reach extends...

THANKS A LOT, REASON

[Swiss Servator - past LTC(ret)]

TAKE THAT BACK OR I WILL THROW A HAGGIS AT YOU!

[AdamJ]

I tried to limit to current Americans, but I had to throw the EU in there because some tards over here admire them so for their "sophistication"

[E. Zachary Knight]

Sadly, my list was not featured:

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

[CE]

Well CPD certainly deserves a vote. But even if the LP candidate were allowed in, the MSM would marginalize him and the American Electorate would still be convinced that they couldn't waste their votes on the best candidate.

[SOFL Hockey Fan]

No Lance Armstrong? Where's Michael Vick?