Political Quotes

Lysander Spooner: “And yet now, owing to the usurpations of lawmakers and courts, the original constitution--with the worst possible…”

On the record
And yet now, owing to the usurpations of lawmakers and courts, the original constitution--with the worst possible construction put upon it--has been carried into effect; and the amendments have been simply cast into the waste baskets.
Said by
Lysander Spooner

Editor's note · Context

He expresses concern that the original Constitution has been misused and the amendments disregarded by lawmakers and courts.

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More from Lysander Spooner

For all these reasons, they are not only modest and sensible, but really frank, honest, and honorable villains, contrasted with these courts of injustice, and the lawmakers by whom these courts are established.

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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.

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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.

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