If any man's money can be taken by a so-called government, without his own personal consent, all his other rights are taken with it; for with his money the government can, and will, hire soldiers to stand over him, compel him to submit to its arbitrary will, and kill him if he resists.
Lysander Spooner: “If any man's money can be taken by a so-called government, without his own personal consent, all his other rights are…”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner asserts that taking a person's money without consent strips them of all their rights.
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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 neither ask, nor expect, any mercy, if they should ever fall into the hands of honest men.
On the contrary, they acknowledge themselves robbers, murderers, and villains, pure and simple.
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.