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John Hospers Quotes

John Hospers was an American philosopher and political activist. In 1972 he became the first presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party, and was the only minor party candidate to receive an electoral vote in that year's U.S. presidential election.

✵ 9. June 1918 – 12. June 2011
John Hospers photo
John Hospers: 7 quotes1 like

Famous John Hospers Quotes

“Government is the most dangerous institution known to man. Throughout history it has violated the rights of men more than any individual or group of individuals could do: it has killed people, enslaved them, sent them to forced labor and concentration camps, and regularly robbed and pillaged them of the fruits of their expended labor. Unlike individual criminals, government has the power to arrest and try; unlike individual criminals, it can surround and encompass a person totally, dominating every aspect of one's life, so that one has no recourse from it but to leave the country”

John Hospers

and in totalitarian nations even that is prohibited
Source: The Libertarian Alternative, (1977), p. 12

“The only proper role of government, according to libertarians, is that of the protector of the citizen against aggression by other individuals. The government, of course, should never initiate aggression; its proper role is as the embodiment of the retaliatory use of force against anyone who initiates its use.”

John Hospers

Source: The Libertarian Alternative, (1977), p. 12

“If each human being is to have liberty, he cannot also have the liberty to deprive others of their liberty.”

John Hospers

Source: Libertarianism: A Political Philosophy for Tomorrow, (1971), p. 13

“A fascist is a student who, seeing the representatives of a chemical industry recruiting on campus, cries, ‘Let's chase the bastard off! We have the right to free speech but he doesn't!”

John Hospers

Source: Libertarianism: A Political Philosophy for Tomorrow, (1971), p. 39

“Liberty (or freedom) is the absence of coercion by other human beings.”

John Hospers

Source: Libertarianism: A Political Philosophy for Tomorrow, (1971), p. 10

“The greater the hold of government upon the life of the individual citizen, the greater the risk of war.”

John Hospers

Source: Libertarianism: A Political Philosophy for Tomorrow, (1971), p. 411-412

“Beware: the Government Is Armed and Dangerous.”

John Hospers

Source: The Libertarian Alternative, (1977), p. 12

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