On the record
Any government, that is its own judge of, and determines authoritatively for the people, what are its own powers over the people, is an absolute government of course.
Said by
Lysander Spooner
Source
gutenberg.orgLysander Spooner: “Any government, that is its own judge of, and determines authoritatively for the people, what are its own powers over…”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner critiques any government that defines its own powers without accountability to the people.
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More from Lysander Spooner
It is also sheer impudence, on their part, to assume that their commands are at all necessary to teach other men what is, and what is not, justice.
In this manner all unjust laws are established, and made operative against the rights of the people.
The people are no more arrayed against themselves, when a jury puts its veto upon a statute, which the other tribunals have sanctioned, than they are when the same veto is exercised by the representatives, the senate, the executive, or the…
Why should they not have such an administration of justice as they desire, and can understand?