But which is the State's essential function, aggression or defence, few seem to know or care.
Benjamin TuckerRead
Government is the assumption of authority over a given area and all within it, exercised generally for the double purpose of more complete oppression of its subjects and extension of its boundaries.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote critiques the nature of government as a means of control and expansion.
Benjamin Tucker's quote highlights the dual function of government: to exert dominance over its citizens while simultaneously seeking to expand its influence and territory. This perspective emphasizes the often oppressive nature of governmental authority and raises questions about the true motivations behind political power.
Themes
GovernmentAuthorityOppressionPowerControl
In practice
Example use cases
During a political debate, one might use this quote to emphasize the need for accountability in government actions.
More from Benjamin Tucker
All quotes →The main question ... is not what motive inspired the law, but what it will be possible for men of bad motive to do with the law.
Benjamin TuckerRead
There is no freedom that I would grant to any man that I would refuse to woman, and there is no freedom that I would refuse to either man or woman except the freedom to invade ... whoever has the ballot has the freedom to invade, and whoever wants the ballot wants the freedom to invade. Give woman equality with man, by all means; but do it by taking power from man, not giving it to woman.
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Voting is merely a labor-saving device for ascertaining on which side force lies and bowing to the inevitable... It is neither more nor less than a paper representative of the bayonet, the bully, and the bullet.
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To force a man to pay for the violation of his own liberty is indeed an addition of insult to injury.
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Anarchism does not repudiate the right of ownership, but it has a conception thereof sufficiently different from [others'] to include the possibility of an end of that social organization which will arise, not out of the ruins of government, but out of the transformation of government into voluntary association for defence.
Benjamin TuckerRead
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