Lysander Spooner: “The government's pretence of protecting him, as an equivalent for the taxation, affords no justification.”

They do not carry their heads high, above all other men, and demand our reverence and admiration, as statesmen, patriots, and benefactors.

When they have once taken our money, they have the decency to get out of our sight as soon as possible; they do not persist in following us, and robbing us, again and again, so long as we produce anything that they can take from 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.

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.