They Do Not Own Us As Property – IOTW Report

They Do Not Own Us As Property

Lysander Spooner
Lysander Spooner

That men may rightfully be compelled to submit to, and support, a government that they do not want … [is] self-evidently false … a man, thus subjected to a government that he does not want, is a slave. And there is no difference, in principle … between political and chattel slavery. [Each] denies a man’s ownership of himself and the products of his labor; and asserts that other men may own him, and dispose of him and his property, for their uses, and at their pleasure.

A man’s natural rights are his own … any infringement of them is equally a crime … whether committed by one man, calling himself a robber or by millions, calling themselves a government.

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10 Comments on They Do Not Own Us As Property

  1. Francis Porretto wrote a “Spoonerism” Sci-fi trilogy a few years back. The Spoonerists retreated to n Canada where they attempted to live their lives in peace. The governments of the rest of earth assembled a massive army and slaughtered everyone but those who miraculously escaped to a new planet called Hope.

    There they established a colony(?) that had no government of any kind.

    I’ll leave it at that-the story takes some interesting twists, people being people.

  2. Lysander Spooner has been a major influence for most of my life. He was a true American patriot with no patience for slavery or coercion in any form. It is well worth anyone’s time to read some of his works on political philosophy and law. They can be found in the Works section at LysanderSpooner.org. I particularly recommend No Treason and Vices are not Crimes: A Vindication of Moral Liberty.

    p.s. Take a closer look at my gravatar image!

  3. I am but a slave of the state.
    Most of what I have produced through hard work and ingenuity has been rendered to the state. The harder I work to improve my situation, the more the state requires under threat of merciless prosecution.

    Suffice to say, The Presidential, Congressional and Senate elections will not change my status for the better. To think otherwise is a fool’s thought.

    Freedom, (the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action) and Liberty ( freedom from physical restraint, freedom from arbitrary or despotic control, the positive enjoyment of various social, political, or economic rights and privileges, the power of choice) , have become slogans of what once was won through the blood of thousands and have been squandered by millions for over 200 years.

  4. Precisely why I quit working at the age of 40, when O-Blow-Me took office.

    Why the fcuk do I need to spend 13-14 hours out of every 24 to buy a government I don’t support an Escalade every year?

    I’ve enjoyed the negative tax bracket the past 7 years, thank you all for the annual bonus. I paid plenty in years prior, payback is a bitch!

  5. I read the statement to DH and I asked him who said it? He said “Ayn Rand, Jefferson, Bastiat?”

    Thanks for the link Uncle Al, DH is going to have some fresh reading material.

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