On the record
What is this but despotism? and not merely despotism, but insult and oppression of the intensest kind?
Said by
Lysander Spooner
Source
gutenberg.orgLysander Spooner: “What is this but despotism? and not merely despotism, but insult and oppression of the intensest kind?”
Editor's note · Context
He questions the legitimacy of a system that enforces laws on people who are not equipped to understand them, labeling it as despotism.
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More from Lysander Spooner
And he can rightfully be held to no greater knowledge of the law than this.
The people considered their jurisprudence as a part of their inheritance.
And nobody is bound to take the least notice of them, unless it be to trample them under foot, as usurpations.
If the authority be vested in the government, the governmnt is absolute, and the people have no liberties except such as the government sees fit to indulge them with.