Political Quotes

Lysander Spooner: “Government is established for the protection of the weak against the strong.”

On the record
Government is established for the protection of the weak against the strong.
Said by
Lysander Spooner

Editor's note · Context

Spooner asserts that the primary purpose of government is to protect the weak from the strong.

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More from Lysander Spooner

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.

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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.

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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.

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For all these reasons, they are not only modest and sensible, but really frank, honest, and honorable villains, contrasted with these courts of injustice, and the lawmakers by whom these courts are established.

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