The Law by Frederic Bastiat

The other day I listened to Frederic Bastiat’s “The Law” (originally published in 1850) which I downloaded from Free Audio.org. The Law presents a series of compelling arguments for natural rights, liberty, and private property ownership in a manner that should make sense to the common man, politician, novelist, and even theologian. The author of the Wikipedia article; also provides an (almost too) concise distillation of the thesis:

In The Law, Bastiat states that “each of us has a natural right — from God — to defend his person, his liberty, and his property”. The State is a “substitution of a common force for individual forces” to defend this right. The law becomes perverted when it punishes one’s right to self-defense in favor of another’s acquired right to plunder.

Bastiat defines two forms of plunder: “stupid greed and false philanthropy”. Stupid greed is “protective tariffs, subsidies, guaranteed profits” and false philanthropy is “guaranteed jobs, relief and welfare schemes, public education, progressive taxation, free credit, and public works”. Monopolism and Socialism are legalized plunder which Bastiat emphasizes is legal but not legitimate.

The Law is a must read (or listen) for anyone who is interested in a cogent arguments regarding the history, role, and scope of authority that government must play for a society to be free.

-b