If Goods Don't Cross Borders, Armies Will.

You Compare The Nation To A Parched Piece Of Land And The Tax To A Life-giving Rain. So Be It. But You Should Also Ask Yourself Where This Rain Comes From, And Whether It Is Not Precisely The Tax That Draws The Moisture From The Soil And Dries It Up. You Should Also Ask Yourself Further Whether The Soil Receives More Of This Precious Water From The Rain Than It Loses By The Evaporation?

It Is Easy To Understand Why The Law Is Used By The Legislator To Destroy In Varying Degrees Among The Rest Of The People, Their Personal Independence By Slavery, Their Liberty By Oppression, And Their Property By Plunder. This Is Done For The Benefit Of The Person Who Makes The Law, And In Proportion To The Power That He Holds.

It Is Not True That The Legislator Has Absolute Power Over Our Persons And Property, Since They Pre-exist, And His Work Is Only To Secure Them From Injury. It Is Not True That The Mission Of The Law Is To Regulate Our Consciences, Our Ideas, Our Will, Our Education, Our Sentiments, Our Works, Our Exchanges, Our Gifts, Our Enjoyments. Its Mission Is To Prevent The Rights Of One From Interfering With Those Of Another, In Any One Of These Things.

The Plans Differ; The Planners Are All Alike.

In Fact, If Law Were Restricted To Protecting All Persons, All Liberties, And All Properties; If Law Were Nothing More Than The Organized Combination Of The Individual's Right To Self-defense; If Law Were The Obstacle, The Check, The Punisher Of All Oppression And Plunder - Is It Likely That We Citizens Would Then Argue Much About The Extent Of The Franchise?