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
But which is the State's essential function, aggression or defence, few seem to know or care.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote questions the core purpose of the government, whether it should focus on aggression or defense.
In this quote, Benjamin Tucker emphasizes the ambiguity surrounding the fundamental role of the state. He suggests that many people are either unaware or indifferent to whether the state's primary function should be to exert force against others or to protect its citizens from aggression. This reflects a broader philosophical debate about the nature of power and the ethical responsibilities of government.
Themes
StateGovernmentDefenseAggressionFunction
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a debate about the role of government in society.
More from Benjamin Tucker
All quotes βThere 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.
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.
Benjamin TuckerRead
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.
Benjamin TuckerRead
To force a man to pay for the violation of his own liberty is indeed an addition of insult to injury.
Benjamin TuckerRead
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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