Proudhon Essay, Research Paper
To be GOVERNED is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed,law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at,controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, bycreatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to doso. To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transactionnoted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered,assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed,corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in thename of the general interest, to be placed under contribution, drilled,fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed,
robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint,to be repressed, fined, vilified, harassed, hunted down, abused,clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned,shot, deported,sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked,ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored. That is government; that isits justice; that is its morality. P.J. Proudhon, General Idea of the Revolution in the 19th CenturyNotice the parallels to the Prisoner?I will not make any deals with you. I’ve resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, de-briefed, ornumbered!My life is my own.