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Thread: Happy Lysander Spooner Day!

  1. #1

    Cool Happy Lysander Spooner Day!

    As some of you may know, for the last two years, I've made an effort to publicly commemorate the birth of one of the greatest, yet often unsung heroes of the early libertarian movement, the great abolitionist attorney and anti-statist thinker Lysander Spooner. Tomorrow, January 19th, marks 204 years since the birth of this uncompromisingly bold, brilliant, and intrepid defender of Natural Rights and individual sovereignty. And, appropriately enough, it's also the final debate for Ron Paul before the South Carolina primary. With apologies to Spooner's deist sensibilities, nothing pleases me more than to imagine him standing with Ron in spirit tomorrow night, and helping the good doc perform especially well!

    Most of all, tomorrow is a day to revel in your individual liberty in its truest and most unalloyed form. A few suggested activities for a well-spent Spooner Day include calling your so-called "representatives" to demand they vote against SOPA, rereading some of Spooner's classic works, like "No Treason" or "An Essay on the Trial by Jury", or even just microwaving some popcorn and rewatching "V for Vendetta" for the 18th time. Let's live it up, and party like we've never even heard of NDAA!
    "When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system's game. The establishment will irritate you - pull your beard, flick your face - to make you fight, because once they've got you violent then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don't know how to handle is non-violence and humor. "

    ---John Lennon


    "I EAT NEOCONS FOR BREAKFAST!!!"

    ---Me



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  3. #2
    +rep Thank you! I'll be sure to honor him tomorrow, and those are all great suggestions. It's good luck for the debate. I know Lysander's up there pulling for him.

    A man’s natural rights are his own, against the whole world; and any infringement of them is equally a crime, whether committed by one man, or by millions; whether committed by one man, calling himself a robber, ... or by millions, calling themselves a government.
    Based on the idea of natural rights, government secures those rights to the individual by strictly negative intervention, making justice costless and easy of access; and beyond that it does not go. The State, on the other hand, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing.
    --Albert J. Nock

  4. #3

  5. #4
    "When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system's game. The establishment will irritate you - pull your beard, flick your face - to make you fight, because once they've got you violent then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don't know how to handle is non-violence and humor. "

    ---John Lennon


    "I EAT NEOCONS FOR BREAKFAST!!!"

    ---Me

  6. #5
    Sweet! Good ideas for tomorrow! I love that there is a debate tomorrow as well.

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Lucille View Post
    +rep Thank you! I'll be sure to honor him tomorrow, and those are all great suggestions. It's good luck for the debate. I know Lysander's up there pulling for him.

    A man’s natural rights are his own, against the whole world; and any infringement of them is equally a crime, whether committed by one man, or by millions; whether committed by one man, calling himself a robber, ... or by millions, calling themselves a government.
    Epic quote is epic! +rep in return!
    "When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system's game. The establishment will irritate you - pull your beard, flick your face - to make you fight, because once they've got you violent then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don't know how to handle is non-violence and humor. "

    ---John Lennon


    "I EAT NEOCONS FOR BREAKFAST!!!"

    ---Me

  8. #7
    Morning kickoff bump!
    "When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system's game. The establishment will irritate you - pull your beard, flick your face - to make you fight, because once they've got you violent then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don't know how to handle is non-violence and humor. "

    ---John Lennon


    "I EAT NEOCONS FOR BREAKFAST!!!"

    ---Me

  9. #8
    One more bump and I promise I won't bother you for the rest of the morning! As to this afternoon however...I make no such promises!
    "When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system's game. The establishment will irritate you - pull your beard, flick your face - to make you fight, because once they've got you violent then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don't know how to handle is non-violence and humor. "

    ---John Lennon


    "I EAT NEOCONS FOR BREAKFAST!!!"

    ---Me



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  11. #9


    That one made me LOL.
    Last edited by Lucille; 01-19-2012 at 09:00 AM.
    Based on the idea of natural rights, government secures those rights to the individual by strictly negative intervention, making justice costless and easy of access; and beyond that it does not go. The State, on the other hand, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing.
    --Albert J. Nock

  12. #10
    "Do you really think, Sir, that such a constitution as this can avail to justify those who, like yourself, are engaged in enforcing it? Is it not plain, rather, that the members of Congress, as a legislative body, whether they are conscious of it or not, are in reality, a mere cabal of swindlers, usurpers, tyrants and robbers? Is it not plain that they are stupendous blockheads, if they imagine that they are anything else than such a cabal? Or that their so-called laws impose the least obligation upon anybody?"

    It's plain to me!
    Based on the idea of natural rights, government secures those rights to the individual by strictly negative intervention, making justice costless and easy of access; and beyond that it does not go. The State, on the other hand, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing.
    --Albert J. Nock

  13. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Lucille View Post
    "Do you really think, Sir, that such a constitution as this can avail to justify those who, like yourself, are engaged in enforcing it? Is it not plain, rather, that the members of Congress, as a legislative body, whether they are conscious of it or not, are in reality, a mere cabal of swindlers, usurpers, tyrants and robbers? Is it not plain that they are stupendous blockheads, if they imagine that they are anything else than such a cabal? Or that their so-called laws impose the least obligation upon anybody?"

    It's plain to me!
    That guy had quite a way with words. Just the phrase "stupendous blockheads" made me crack up!
    "When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system's game. The establishment will irritate you - pull your beard, flick your face - to make you fight, because once they've got you violent then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don't know how to handle is non-violence and humor. "

    ---John Lennon


    "I EAT NEOCONS FOR BREAKFAST!!!"

    ---Me

  14. #12
    I really enjoy reading Lysander Spooner, but I have a reservation, if I may share, that I've often thought of concerning his view on social contract.
    Could it not be used, his argument, for the justification of abolishing private property? To say for instance, that no one is alive when the property was drawn up, excluding new lines drawn upon previous lines, and so would this mean those contracts are invalid?
    Nonetheless it could be a misunderstanding on my part, perhaps someone could clarify it for me.

  15. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by BuddyRey View Post
    As some of you may know, for the last two years, I've made an effort to publicly commemorate the birth of one of the greatest, yet often unsung heroes of the early libertarian movement, the great abolitionist attorney and anti-statist thinker Lysander Spooner. Tomorrow, January 19th, marks 204 years since the birth of this uncompromisingly bold, brilliant, and intrepid defender of Natural Rights and individual sovereignty. And, appropriately enough, it's also the final debate for Ron Paul before the South Carolina primary. With apologies to Spooner's deist sensibilities, nothing pleases me more than to imagine him standing with Ron in spirit tomorrow night, and helping the good doc perform especially well!

    Most of all, tomorrow is a day to revel in your individual liberty in its truest and most unalloyed form. A few suggested activities for a well-spent Spooner Day include calling your so-called "representatives" to demand they vote against SOPA, rereading some of Spooner's classic works, like "No Treason" or "An Essay on the Trial by Jury", or even just microwaving some popcorn and rewatching "V for Vendetta" for the 18th time. Let's live it up, and party like we've never even heard of NDAA!
    Thanks for the reminder, good sir! And a happy Lysander Spooner day to you too! To this day, statists have not defeated his arguments.
    Quote Originally Posted by Torchbearer
    what works can never be discussed online. there is only one language the government understands, and until the people start speaking it by the magazine full... things will remain the same.
    Hear/buy my music here "government is the enemy of liberty"-RP Support me on Patreon here Ephesians 6:12

  16. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Watch View Post
    I really enjoy reading Lysander Spooner, but I have a reservation, if I may share, that I've often thought of concerning his view on social contract.
    Could it not be used, his argument, for the justification of abolishing private property? To say for instance, that no one is alive when the property was drawn up, excluding new lines drawn upon previous lines, and so would this mean those contracts are invalid?
    Nonetheless it could be a misunderstanding on my part, perhaps someone could clarify it for me.
    Spooner distinguishes legitimate contracts and fake contracts such as "social contract" theory held up by Constitutionalists which only exist in the minds of the people who originally agreed to the terms. Same as how no one has a legitimate right to pass one generation's bills on to the next (even with a contract). I don't have a copy of "No Treason" handy, but I'm sure buddy or someone else could give you some direct quotes to illustrate this.
    Last edited by heavenlyboy34; 01-19-2012 at 01:04 PM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Torchbearer
    what works can never be discussed online. there is only one language the government understands, and until the people start speaking it by the magazine full... things will remain the same.
    Hear/buy my music here "government is the enemy of liberty"-RP Support me on Patreon here Ephesians 6:12

  17. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by heavenlyboy34 View Post
    Spooner distinguishes legitimate contracts and fake contracts such as "social contract" theory held up by Constitutionalists which only exist in the minds of the people who originally agreed to the terms. Same as how no one has a legitimate right to pass one generation's bills on to the next (even with a contract). I don't have a copy of "No Treason" handy, but I'm sure buddy or someone else could give you some direct quotes to illustrate this.
    All of his writings are here: http://www.lysanderspooner.org/

    My kid is reading the Douglass autobiography in Lit and they study Spooner in the unit. He loves his Plan for the Abolition of Slavery, especially this part!:

    We especially advise the flogging of individual Slave-holders. This is a case where the medical principle, that like cures like, will certainly succeed. Give the Slave-holders, then, a taste of their own whips. Spare their lives, but not their backs. The arrogance they have acquired by the use of time lash upon others, will be soon taken out of them, when the same scourge shall be applied to themselves. A band of ten or twenty determined negroes, well armed, having their rendezvous in the forests, coming out upon time plantations by day or night, seizing individual Slaveholders, stripping then and flogging them soundly, in time presence of their own Slaves, would soon abolish Slavery over a large district.
    Based on the idea of natural rights, government secures those rights to the individual by strictly negative intervention, making justice costless and easy of access; and beyond that it does not go. The State, on the other hand, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing.
    --Albert J. Nock

  18. #16
    Wow...I woke up this afternoon to see that Rick Perry had dropped out of the race and that Newt Gingrich is under fire again for his perpetual infidelities. This is the greatest Spooner Day ever!
    "When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system's game. The establishment will irritate you - pull your beard, flick your face - to make you fight, because once they've got you violent then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don't know how to handle is non-violence and humor. "

    ---John Lennon


    "I EAT NEOCONS FOR BREAKFAST!!!"

    ---Me



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  20. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by BuddyRey View Post
    Wow...I woke up this afternoon to see that Rick Perry had dropped out of the race and that Newt Gingrich is under fire again for his perpetual infidelities. This is the greatest Spooner Day ever!
    qft! W00t!!!
    Quote Originally Posted by Torchbearer
    what works can never be discussed online. there is only one language the government understands, and until the people start speaking it by the magazine full... things will remain the same.
    Hear/buy my music here "government is the enemy of liberty"-RP Support me on Patreon here Ephesians 6:12

  21. #18
    My favorite Lysander Spooner.

    Follow my blog at http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/
    Current commentary from a libertarian/voluntaryist/agorist perspective.

    Consistent Candidate - with Chainspell

    2007
    Ron Paul Landslide by Jake Kellen - Constitution Mix

    The vision of the helpful and protective state is the most pervasive and counter-productive ideology in the world today.

  22. #19
    I'll drink a beer to this! Happy Lysander Spooner day!

  23. #20

  24. #21
    After Ron's debate tonight, I'll say it again.

    Best Spooner Day EVAR!
    "When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system's game. The establishment will irritate you - pull your beard, flick your face - to make you fight, because once they've got you violent then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don't know how to handle is non-violence and humor. "

    ---John Lennon


    "I EAT NEOCONS FOR BREAKFAST!!!"

    ---Me

  25. #22
    Yes this Spooner day was awesome!

  26. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by BuddyRey View Post
    After Ron's debate tonight, I'll say it again.

    Best Spooner Day EVAR!
    It's true!

    Ron had an excellent night.

    +rep all around!
    Last edited by Lucille; 01-19-2012 at 10:25 PM.
    Based on the idea of natural rights, government secures those rights to the individual by strictly negative intervention, making justice costless and easy of access; and beyond that it does not go. The State, on the other hand, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing.
    --Albert J. Nock

  27. #24
    Bump.
    “The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.” --George Orwell

    Quote Originally Posted by AuH20 View Post
    In terms of a full spectrum candidate, Rand is leaps and bounds above Trump. I'm not disputing that.
    Who else in public life has called for a pre-emptive strike on North Korea?--Donald Trump



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  29. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by kcchiefs6465 View Post
    Bump.
    Thanks! ~hugs~
    Quote Originally Posted by Torchbearer
    what works can never be discussed online. there is only one language the government understands, and until the people start speaking it by the magazine full... things will remain the same.
    Hear/buy my music here "government is the enemy of liberty"-RP Support me on Patreon here Ephesians 6:12

  30. #26
    Love y'all for keeping this thread alive. And may this January's Spooner Day be especially rife with the spirit of defiance!
    "When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system's game. The establishment will irritate you - pull your beard, flick your face - to make you fight, because once they've got you violent then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don't know how to handle is non-violence and humor. "

    ---John Lennon


    "I EAT NEOCONS FOR BREAKFAST!!!"

    ---Me

  31. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by BuddyRey View Post
    Love y'all for keeping this thread alive. And may this January's Spooner Day be especially rife with the spirit of defiance!
    Ur welcome! Thanks for making it! ~hugs~
    Quote Originally Posted by Torchbearer
    what works can never be discussed online. there is only one language the government understands, and until the people start speaking it by the magazine full... things will remain the same.
    Hear/buy my music here "government is the enemy of liberty"-RP Support me on Patreon here Ephesians 6:12



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