The secret ballot makes a secret government; and a secret government is a secret band of robbers and murderers.
Interpretation
The quote criticizes the concept of secret voting by equating it to a hidden and corrupt government.
Lysander Spooner argues that the practice of using secret ballots in elections leads to the establishment of a government that operates without accountability and transparency. This, he suggests, results in a form of governance that can engage in harmful and criminal activities, as it lacks vigilance from the populace due to its obscured operations.
In practice
In a political speech discussing the importance of transparency in democratic processes.
The principle that the majority have a right to rule the minority, practically resolves all government into a mere contest between two bodies of men, as to which of them shall be masters, and which of them slaves; a contest, that-however bloody-can, in the nature of things, never be finally closed, so long as man refuses to be a slave.
For a government to declare a vice to be a crime, and to punish it as such, is an attempt to falsify the very nature of things. It is as absurd as it would be to declare truth to be falsehood, or falsehood truth.
And the men who loan money to governments, so called, for the purpose of enabling the latter to rob, enslave, and murder their people, are among the greatest villains that the world has ever seen. And they as much deserve to be hunted and killed (if they cannot otherwise be got rid of) as any slave traders, robbers, or pirates that ever lived.
A married woman has the same natural right to acquire and hold property, and to make all contracts that she is mentally competent to make reasonably, as has a married man, or any other man.
Slavery, if it can be legalized at all, can be legalized only by positive legislation. Natural law gives it no aid. Custom imparts to it no legal sanction.
Those who deny the right of a jury to protect an individual in resisting an unjust law of the government, deny him all defence whatsoever against oppression.
There are a number of things wrong with Washington. One of them is that everyone is too far from home.
It is an axiom of political science in the United States that the sole means of neutralizing the effects of newspapers is to multiply their number.
To resolve this issue will require Iran to come to the table and discuss in a clear and forthright way how to prove to the international community that the intentions of their nuclear program are peaceful. [...] The question is going to be whether in these discussions they show themselves moving clearly in that direction.
The very first time a politician puts you in his target is sometimes a disappointment, because perhaps you thought you were friends and getting along well... But it is not something that you dwelled on. At least, I did not.
The immigration issue is, I recognize, one that generates a lot of passion, but it does not make sense for us to want to push talent out.
I don't usually admire Sarah Palin, but when she was making fun of this 'hopey changey stuff,' she was right: there was nothing there.
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