Lysander Spooner, Michel De Montaigne, Thomas Paine

[♦ nivek ♦]

"Our constitutions purport to be established

by 'the people,' and, in theory, 'all the people'

consent to such government as the constitutions authorize.

But this consent of 'the people' exists only in theory.

It has no existence in fact.

Government is in reality established by the few;

and these few assume the consent of all the rest,

without any such consent being actually given."

-- Lysander Spooner

(1808-1887) Political theorist, activist, abolitionist

http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/L...oner.Quote.DEEB

 

 

"Laws are maintained in credit,

not because they are essentially just,

but because they are laws.

It is the mystical foundation

of their authority;

they have none other."

-- Michel de Montaigne

(1532-1592) French Renaissance scholar, philosopher, writer

Source: Essays, 1575

http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/M...igne.Quote.A7F6

 

 

"A constitution is not the act of a government,

but of a people constituting a government;

and government without a constitution is power without a right.

All power exercised over a nation, must have some beginning.

It must be either delegated, or assumed. There are not other sources.

All delegated power is trust, and all assumed power is usurpation.

Time does not alter the nature and quality of either."

-- Thomas Paine

(1737-1809)

http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/T...aine.Quote.71D2