This because I have received the equivalent;
I am delighted that I am not vanquished, assassinated, or robbed. I
reimburse the State, exactly but not more that which it has spent on
equipment and personnel for keeping down brutal cupidity, greedy
appetites, deadly fanaticism, the entire howling pack of passions and
desires of which, sooner or later, I might become the prey, were it
not constantly to extend over me its vigilant protection. When it
demands its outlay of me it is not my property which it takes away,
but its own property, which it collects and, in this light, it may
legitimately force me to pay. - On condition, however, that it does
not exact more than my liabilities, and this it does when it oversteps
its original engagements;
1. when it undertakes some extra material or moral work that I do not
ask for;
2. when it constitutes itself sectarian, moralist, philanthropist, or
pedagogue;
3. when it strives to propagate within its borders, or outside of
them, any religious or philosophic dogma, or any special political or
social system.
For then, it adds a new article to the primitive pact, for which
article there is not the same unanimous and assured assent that
existed for the pact.
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