So they hold that in such an exigency as they describe, congress had the right to commit any crime against private persons, by which the government could be saved.
Lysander Spooner: “So they hold that in such an exigency as they describe, congress had the right to commit any crime against private…”
Editor's note · Context
He condemns the idea that Congress can commit crimes against individuals in the name of government survival.
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In short, they acknowledge themselves hostes humani generis: enemies of the human race.
They do not tell us that they have established infallible supreme courts, to whom they refer all questions as to the legality of their acts, and that they do nothing that is not sanctioned by these courts.
On the contrary, they acknowledge themselves robbers, murderers, and villains, pure and simple.
They acknowledge it to be our unquestioned right and duty to kill them, if we can; that they expect nothing else, than that we will kill them, if we can; and that we are only fools and cowards, if we do not kill them, by any and every…