Lysander Spooner, one of the seminal figures in the history of Liberty in these presently united States, in the aftermath of the War Between the States, wrote an extraordinary condemnation of the Federal Constitution of these united States. At the time, his work was generally ignored or even vilified, especially by the winning side, but a century and a half later, it seems prescient. His condemnations of the inadequacy of the Constitution to prevent the outrage of the War between the States, or the outrage of Woodrow Wilson's WW1 arrogation of power, or FDR's trampling of the Bill of Rights, or the PAtriot Act, or the present abuses of the NSA, are spot on target. I commend his works to your attention, gentle reader, and they may be found online here.
Spooner said, in No Treason #2-
"One essential of a free government is that it rest wholly on voluntary support. And one certain proof that a government is not free, is that it coerces more or less persons to support it, against their will.
All governments, the worst on earth, and the most tyrannical on earth, are free governments to that portion of the people who voluntarily support them. And all governments though the best on earth in other respects --- are nevertheless tyrannies to that portion of the people --- whether few or many --- who are compelled to support them against their will. A government is like a church, or any other institution, in these respects.
There is no other criterion whatever, by which to determine whether a government is a free one, or not, than the single one of its depending, or not depending, solely on voluntary support."
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