On the record
It can give to one only what it takes from others; for it has nothing of its own to give to any one.
Said by
Lysander Spooner
Source
gutenberg.orgLysander Spooner: “It can give to one only what it takes from others; for it has nothing of its own to give to any one.”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner asserts that government can only redistribute wealth by taking from others, emphasizing its lack of original resources.
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More from Lysander Spooner
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.
In short, they acknowledge themselves hostes humani generis: enemies of the human race.
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.