On the record
It does not recognize him at all as a human being, having any rights whatever of his own, but only as an instrument, a weapon, or a machine, to be used in killing other men.
Said by
Lysander Spooner
Source
gutenberg.orgLysander Spooner: “It does not recognize him at all as a human being, having any rights whatever of his own, but only as an instrument, a…”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner claims that the government reduces individuals to mere instruments for violence.
Share
More from Lysander Spooner
It was simply, that they would neither convict the innocent, nor acquit the guilty.
If the authority be vested in the government, the governmnt is absolute, and the people have no liberties except such as the government sees fit to indulge them with.
They were even allowed to grant pardon to criminals, and to correct by their clemency the rigors of justice.
And nobody is bound to take the least notice of them, unless it be to trample them under foot, as usurpations.