On the record
A secret ballot makes a secret government; and a secret government is nothing else than a government by conspiracy.
Said by
Lysander Spooner
Source
gutenberg.orgLysander Spooner: “A secret ballot makes a secret government; and a secret government is nothing else than a government by conspiracy.”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner warns that secret ballots lead to a government that operates in secrecy and conspiracy.
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More from Lysander Spooner
They do not attempt to deceive us, or mislead us, or reconcile us to their doings, by any such pretences, impostures, or insults as these.
In short, they acknowledge themselves hostes humani generis: enemies of the human race.
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 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.