On the record
A good government, no more than a bad one, has any right to live by robbery, murder, or any other crime.
Said by
Lysander Spooner
Source
gutenberg.orgLysander Spooner: “A good government, no more than a bad one, has any right to live by robbery, murder, or any other crime.”
Editor's note · Context
He states that both good and bad governments lack the right to sustain themselves through immoral actions.
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More from Lysander Spooner
They do not attempt to deceive us, or mislead us, or reconcile us to their doings, by any such pretences, impostures, or insults as these.
They do not tell us of the almshouses, hospitals, schools, churches, etc., which, out of the purest charity and benevolence, they maintain for our benefit, out of the money they take from us.
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.
In short, they acknowledge themselves hostes humani generis: enemies of the human race.