On the record
If it do not authorize individuals to nip tyranny in the bud, it does not authorize them to cut it down when its branches are filled with the ripe fruits of plunder and oppression.
Said by
Lysander Spooner
Source
gutenberg.orgLysander Spooner: “If it do not authorize individuals to nip tyranny in the bud, it does not authorize them to cut it down when its…”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner insists that individuals must be empowered to resist tyranny at its inception.
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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.
On the contrary, they acknowledge themselves robbers, murderers, and villains, pure and simple.
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.
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.