Political Quotes

Lysander Spooner: They cannot claim or expect that the whole people shall practise the folly of taking on trust their pretended superior…

On the record
They cannot claim or expect that the whole people shall practise the folly of taking on trust their pretended superior knowledge, and of committing blindly into their hands all their own interests, liberties, and rights, to be disposed of on principles, the justness of which the people themselves cannot comprehend.
Said by
Lysander Spooner

Editor's note · Context

Spooner critiques the idea of blindly trusting those in power, advocating for individual understanding of justice and rights.

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That the legislation of the king was of no authority over a jury, is further proved by the oath taken by the kings at their coronation.

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Since Magna Carta, we have evidence showing quite conclusively that all freemen, above the age of twenty-one years, were eligible as jurors.

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In that case the trial is really a trial by the government, and not by the jury.

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It was simply, that they would neither convict the innocent, nor acquit the guilty.

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