On the record
Neither the conquerors, nor the conquered, have yet learned that no government can have any right to exist for any other purpose than the simple maintenance of justice between man and man.
Said by
Lysander Spooner
Source
gutenberg.orgLysander Spooner: “Neither the conquerors, nor the conquered, have yet learned that no government can have any right to exist for any other…”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner posits that no government has the right to exist except to maintain justice among individuals.
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More from Lysander Spooner
They do not tell us that we are the freest and happiest people on earth, inasmuch as each of our male adults is allowed one voice in ten millions in the choice of the men, who are to rob, enslave, and murder us.
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 all liberty and order would be destroyed, that society itself would go to pieces, and man go back to barbarism, if it were not for the care, and supervision, and protection, they lavish upon us.
They neither ask, nor expect, any mercy, if they should ever fall into the hands of honest men.