"[A] body of voters can not give into your charge any rights but their
own; by no possible jugglery of logic can they delegate the exercise of
any function which they themselves do not control. If any individual on
earth has a right to delegate his powers to whomsoever he chooses, then
every other individual has an equal right; and if each has an equal
right, then none can choose an agent for another, without that other's
consent. Therefore, if the power of government resides in the whole
people, and out of that whole all but one elected you as their agent,
you would still have no authority whatever to act for the one. The
individuals composing the minority who did not appoint you have just the
same rights and powers as those composing the majority who did; and if
they prefer not to delegate them at all, then neither you, nor any one,
has any authority whatever to coerce them into accepting you, or any
one, as their agent ...."
~ Voltairine de Cleyre
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