What Lysander Spooner thinks about government

@lysander-spooner · 16 positions · On ppll ↗

American individualist anarchist and legal theorist (1808 to 1887); author of No Treason.

Lysander Spooner did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

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Only Lysander Spooner on government. See everyone on government

6 dated positions, c. 1867–1870, in their own words. Our reading of what Lysander Spooner has said — not written or endorsed by them.

1. c. 1867–1870

   Our readingVoting does not pledge anyone to support the government

   Their wordsLegally speaking, therefore, the act of voting utterly fails to pledge any one to support the government. It utterly fails to prove that the government rests upon the voluntary support of anybody.

   ↗No Treason, No. VI: The Constitution of No Authority (1870)gutenberg.org All 16 from this book

3. c. 1867–1870

   Our readingLike a highwayman, government demands your money or your life, and many taxes are paid under that threat

   Their wordsThe fact is that the government, like a highwayman, says to a man: "Your money, or your life." And many, if not most, taxes are paid under the compulsion of that threat.

   ↗No Treason, No. VI: The Constitution of No Authority (1870)gutenberg.org All 16 from this book

5. c. 1867–1870

   Our readingNo government can reasonably be trusted unless it depends wholly on voluntary support

   Their wordsThat no government, so called, can reasonably be trusted for a moment, or reasonably be supposed to have honest purposes in view, any longer than it depends wholly upon voluntary support.

   ↗No Treason, No. VI: The Constitution of No Authority (1870)gutenberg.org All 16 from this book

7. c. 1867–1870

   Our readingSecret ballots make a secret government of robbers, worse than open despotism

   Their wordsThe secret ballot makes a secret government; and a secret government is a secret band of robbers and murderers. Open despotism is better than this.

   ↗No Treason, No. VI: The Constitution of No Authority (1870)gutenberg.org All 16 from this book

9. c. 1867–1870

   Our readingThe postwar rulers' idea of government by consent is consent or be shot

   Their wordsThe only idea they have ever manifested as to what is a government of consent, is this—that it is one to which everybody must consent, or be shot.

   ↗No Treason, No. VI: The Constitution of No Authority (1870)gutenberg.org All 16 from this book

11. c. 1867–1870

    Our readingThe Constitution either authorized this government or could not prevent it, so it is unfit to exist

    Their wordsBut whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain—that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.

    ↗No Treason, No. VI: The Constitution of No Authority (1870)gutenberg.org All 16 from this book