I'm from the Government and I'm Here to Kill You: The True Human Cost of Official Negligence

by David T. Hardy

Overview

Gallup recently found that 49 percent of Americans believe that the government poses “an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens.” I’m from the Government and I’m Here to Kill You, written by a former federal attorney, shows that even the 49 percent have no idea how bad things really are. Rights and freedoms are not the only things at stake; all too often government imperils the very lives of those it supposedly serves. Federal employees have, with legal impunity, blown up a town and killed six hundred people, released staggering amounts of radioactive contamination and lied about the resulting cancer, allowed people to die of an easily treated disease in order to study their deaths, and run guns to Mexican drug cartels in hopes of expanding agency powers. Law enforcement leaders have ordered their subordinates to commit murder. Medical administrators have “cooked the books” and allowed patients to die, while raking in plump bonuses. Federal prosecutors have sent Americans to prison while concealing evidence that proved their innocence.

I’m from the Government documents how we came to this pass: American courts misconstrued and expanded the old legal concept of sovereign immunity, “the king can do no wrong.” When Congress attempted to allow suits against the government, the legislators used vague language that the courts construed to block most lawsuits. The result is a legal system that allows official negligence to escape legal consequences and paradoxically punishes an agency if it tries to secure public safety. I’m from the Government ends with proposals for legal reforms that will hold the government and its servants accountable when they inflict harm on Americans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781510722262
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	10/10/2017
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

David T. Hardy practices law in Tucson, Arizona, after spending ten years in Interior Department’s Office of the Solicitor, Washington, DC. He has published four books, one a New York Times bestseller, and twenty-five law review articles, which have twice been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Table of Contents

Introduction: "The King Can Do No Wrong" 1

Chapter 1 Texas City: A City Leveled, Six Hundred Dead 9

Chapter 2 Western United States: Atomic Testing Poisons the Land and the People 25

Chapter 3 Tuskegee, Alabama: Dying "for the Glory of Science" 43

Chapter 4 Ruby Ridge, Idaho: FBI Obeys "Shoot on Sight" Others 61

Chapter 5 Waco, Texas: "It's Showtime!" 87

Chapter 6 Looking for Terror in All the Wrong Places 115

Chapter 7 Arizona: Operation Fast and Furious Arms the Drug Cartels 135

Chapter 8 The Militarization of Police: Tanks, Bayonets, and Grenade Launchers 163

Chapter 9 The Department of Veterans Affairs Kills Veterans 175

Conclusion: Putting a Leash on the Deadly Bureaucracy 185

Appendix: Proposed Reform of Federal Law 203

Endnotes 207

Acknowledgments 241

Index 243

Editorial Reviews

"A shocking exposé of the extent and consequences of our government’s lack of accountability. Hardy’s book is a must-read for every American, regardless of political views and party affiliation." —Robert Corbin, former Attorney General of Arizona

"[Hardy] does an amazingly accurate job telling of how our government has taken innocent citizen life and destroyed personal freedoms. I know firsthand. I watched it happen at Ruby Ridge." —former U.S. Senator Larry E. Craig

"How much immunity should government actors have from civil or criminal liability when their negligent or reckless behavior gets people killed? Reading this book may change some minds on this question. . . . Hardy asks hard questions about the breadth of American immunity law and proposes a broad set of legal reforms that will make the government accountable for the harm it inflicts." —Daniel D. Polsby, JD, former dean , Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University

"From the gross, but deliberate, negligence that caused the massive explosion levelling the port of Texas City in 1947 to the FBI sniper’s kill shot that felled Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge nearly a half century later, the cost in human life at the hands of government abuse of power is truly staggering. And while the detailed recounting of such incidents . . . may be disturbing to some readers, anyone who cares about limiting that power and making government at least somewhat accountable needs to read the book. Every day that passes without taking steps to rein in that power puts a man, a woman, or a child somewhere in America at risk of becoming another victim.” —Robert L. Barr, former United States Attorney and member of the House of Representatives.

Upon seeing the title “I’m From The Government and I’m Here To Kill You” one might be forgiven for assuming the book is a self-published screed from an anti-government misanthrope. David T. Hardy’s background as a Washington, D.C. insider, an attorney working to aid federal law enforcement, and a noted First and Second Amendment scholar whose work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and 11 of the 13 U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals dissolves that concern. . . . I’m From The Government and I’m Here To Kill You should shock a nation, and Congress, into action. There may be no one in Washington, however, who wants these reforms, and that is the most frightening takeaway from this riveting, ground-breaking, book. —Washington Times

“t’s hard not to like a savvy ex-federal lawyer who blows the whistle on the feds. David Hardy has been doing that for decades – often with explosive results. . . . Skyhorse Publishing recently released a new book from Hardy – I’m from the Government and I’m Here to Kill You: The True Human Cost of Official Negligence. Hardy brings his legal savvy to trace how the doctrine of sovereign immunity is ravaging our rights and liberties. “Americans could better hold their government accountable when they were ruled by George III than they can today!,” he warns. He walks readers through a long series of Supreme Court decisions that helped make government officials a nearly untouchable legal class.” —James Bovard, columnist, USA Today

"A shocking exposé of the extent and consequences of our government’s lack of accountability. Hardy’s book is a must-read for every American, regardless of political views and party affiliation." —Robert Corbin, former Attorney General of Arizona

"[Hardy] does an amazingly accurate job telling of how our government has taken innocent citizen life and destroyed personal freedoms. I know firsthand. I watched it happen at Ruby Ridge." —former U.S. Senator Larry E. Craig

"How much immunity should government actors have from civil or criminal liability when their negligent or reckless behavior gets people killed? Reading this book may change some minds on this question. . . . Hardy asks hard questions about the breadth of American immunity law and proposes a broad set of legal reforms that will make the government accountable for the harm it inflicts." —Daniel D. Polsby, JD, former dean , Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University

"From the gross, but deliberate, negligence that caused the massive explosion levelling the port of Texas City in 1947 to the FBI sniper’s kill shot that felled Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge nearly a half century later, the cost in human life at the hands of government abuse of power is truly staggering. And while the detailed recounting of such incidents . . . may be disturbing to some readers, anyone who cares about limiting that power and making government at least somewhat accountable needs to read the book. Every day that passes without taking steps to rein in that power puts a man, a woman, or a child somewhere in America at risk of becoming another victim.” —Robert L. Barr, former United States Attorney and member of the House of Representatives.

Upon seeing the title “I’m From The Government and I’m Here To Kill You” one might be forgiven for assuming the book is a self-published screed from an anti-government misanthrope. David T. Hardy’s background as a Washington, D.C. insider, an attorney working to aid federal law enforcement, and a noted First and Second Amendment scholar whose work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and 11 of the 13 U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals dissolves that concern. . . . I’m From The Government and I’m Here To Kill You should shock a nation, and Congress, into action. There may be no one in Washington, however, who wants these reforms, and that is the most frightening takeaway from this riveting, ground-breaking, book. —Washington Times

“t’s hard not to like a savvy ex-federal lawyer who blows the whistle on the feds. David Hardy has been doing that for decades – often with explosive results. . . . Skyhorse Publishing recently released a new book from Hardy – I’m from the Government and I’m Here to Kill You: The True Human Cost of Official Negligence. Hardy brings his legal savvy to trace how the doctrine of sovereign immunity is ravaging our rights and liberties. “Americans could better hold their government accountable when they were ruled by George III than they can today!,” he warns. He walks readers through a long series of Supreme Court decisions that helped make government officials a nearly untouchable legal class.” —James Bovard, columnist, USA Today

From the Publisher