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NOTE Section VIII

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Section 8 The Constitution itself, then, being of no authority, on what authority does our

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government practically rest?

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On what ground can those who pretend to administer it claim the right to seize men's property,

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to restrain them of their natural liberty of action, industry, and trade, and to kill

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all who deny their authority to dispose of men's property, liberties, and lives at their

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pleasure or discretion?

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The most they can say in answer to this question is that some half, two-thirds, or three-fourths

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of the male adults of the country have a tacit understanding that they will maintain a government

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under the Constitution, that they will select by ballot the persons to administer it, and

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that those persons who may receive a majority or a plurality of their ballots shall act

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as their representatives and administer the Constitution in their name and by their authority.

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But this tacit understanding, admitting it to exist, cannot at all justify the conclusion

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drawn from it.

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A tacit understanding between A, B, and C, that they will by ballot depute D as their

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agent to deprive me of my property, liberty, or life, cannot at all authorize D to do so.

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He is nonetheless a robber, tyrant, and murderer because he claims to act as their agent than

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And he would be if he avowedly acted on his own responsibility alone.

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Neither am I bound to recognize him as their agent, nor can he legitimately claim to be

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their agent when he brings no written authority from them accrediting him as such.

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I am under no obligation to take his word as to who his principles may be, or whether

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he has any.

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Bringing no credentials, I have a right to say he has no such authority even as he claims

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The Theory of Money and Credit

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The Theory of Money and Credit

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They cannot show any open and authentic credentials from their principles, they cannot, in law or reason, be said to have any principles.

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The maxim applies here, that what does not appear, does not exist. If they can show no principles, they have none.

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But even these pretended agents do not themselves know who their pretended principles are.

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These latter act in secret, for acting by secret ballot is acting in secret as much

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as if they were to meet in secret conclave in the darkness of night, and they are personally

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as much unknown to the agents they select as they are to others.

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No pretended agent, therefore, can ever know by whose ballots he is selected, or consequently

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who his real principles are.

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Not knowing who his principles are, he has no right to say that he has any.

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He can, at most, say only that he is the agent of a secret band of robbers and murderers,

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who are bound by that faith which prevails among confederates in crime, to stand by him,

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if his acts done in their name shall be resisted.

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Men honestly engaged in attempting to establish justice in the world have no occasion thus

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to act in secret, or to appoint agents to do acts for which they, the principals, are

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not willing to be responsible.

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The secret ballot makes a secret government, and a secret government is a secret band of

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robbers and murderers.

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Open despotism is better than this.

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The single despot stands in the face of all men and says, I am the state.

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My will is law.

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I am your master.

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I take the responsibility of my acts.

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The only arbiter I acknowledge is the sword.

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If anyone denies my right, let him try conclusions with me.

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But a secret government is little less than a government of assassins.

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Under it a man knows not who his tyrants are until they have struck, and perhaps not then.

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He may guess beforehand as to some of his immediate neighbors, but he really knows nothing.

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The man to whom he would most naturally fly for protection may prove an enemy when the

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time of trial comes.

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This is the kind of government we have, and it is the only one we are likely to have until

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Until men are ready to say, We will consent to no constitution, except such a one as we

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are neither ashamed nor afraid to sign, and we will authorize no government to do anything

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in our name which we are not willing to be personally responsible for.