The Law
by Bastiat
Plundered class seek political power, by replacing the political power by peaceful or revolutionary. For two different purposes: stop people stealing from them, or the people who want to steal.
Difference between conscience and justice and injustice
Alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law
Ignoring theoretical knowledge of what is law, they talk only about what’s legal.
Law just to protect the rights; we wouldn’t be talking about it.
1848 a revolution that didn’t want the established order to go back. In france. (fall of capitalism)
in order to fight socialism you need to fight in accordance with the law, play by the rules. Not by the brute force that you are trying to defend.
Difference between protectionism, socialism, communism
Root of socialism: is the philanthropy of plunder. This is taking something from someone without giving something back, for a general wealth.
Protectionism: interfering with property rights, and involuntary exchange.
Protective tariffs- Difference between tax and fee.
Tax- state collects certain amount of money for the wealth of the country. You have no choice.
Fee- charge for the paperwork when importing something.
Progressive taxation: increase salary, need to pay more taxes.
How we solve problems without violence? Research social science, a more peaceful and free society.
Detailed planned society, remove human error- utopian, predict everything to avoid problems. Human beings are learners, they continue leraning, create the environment people adjust and adapt to constant change. Not on things that we already know what’s best for everyone. Free society: trial and error. Experimenting, lots of possibilities in play, openness to discovery.
Socialists want forced conformity
Rousseau believed that the legislator should believe he can transform the human nature.
Legislators desire to mould mankind
Legislators think they have ways to instruct people according to context.
Success of a country is an skillful legislator. Source of what is good in society and knows how to implement it.
Legislators told how to manage men
Consider locality.
Legislators are molding human beings who have the ability to make their own plans. People he is governing has rational minds just like him.
A temporary dictatorship
Temporary and extraordinary measure of power. Justification of dictatorshop for short time, because society needs a blow.
Socialists want equality of wealth
Laws is the mean for obtaining equality in wealth and dignity.
The error of the socialist writers
The danger of writers focusing on their right ideal, and expecting future generation to follow them, impeding new knowledge to develop.
What is liberty?
Actually, what is the political struggle that we witness? It is the instinctive struggle of all people towards liberty. And what is this liberty, whose very name makes the heart beat faster and shakes the world? Is it not the union of all liberties – liberty of conscience, of education, of association, of the press, of travel, of labour, of trade? In short, is not liberty the freedom of every person to make full use of his faculties, so long as he does not harm other persons while doing so? Is not liberty the destruction of all despotism – including, of course, legal despotism? Finally, is not liberty the restricting of the law only to its rational sphere of organising the right of the individual to lawful self-defence; of punishing injustice?
Liberty is the freedom of every person to make full use of his faculties, so long as they don’t harm the property of others.
Philanthropic Tyranny
Set themselves above human nature so they can mold it.
The socialist want dictatorship
People should adjust own desires and believes for those of the legislators.
Purpose of government established virtue: method will be terror. Except by the use of force.
Dictatorial arrogance
Place themselves above everyone else, and remake society according to their own morality by using force.
The indirect approach to despotism
Write laws, indirectly not directly. Law becomes instrument for achieving their ends.
Napoleon wanted passive mankind
If you need to force people to believe it it is not rightful.
The vicious circle of socialism
The doctrine of the democrats
Election time legislator gives power to citizen, time of ruling is opposite
Law is force
Since the law organises justice, the socialists ask why the law should not also organise labour, education, and religion.
Why should not law be used for these purposes? Because it could not organise labour, education, and religion without destroying justice. We must remember that law is force, and that, consequently, the proper functions of the law cannot lawfully extend beyond the proper functions of force.
The Law and Education
he law has only two alternatives: it can permit this transaction of teaching- and-learning to operate freely and without the use of force, or it can force human wills in this matter by taking from some of them enough to pay the teachers who are appointed by government to instruct others, without charge. But in this second case, the law commits legal plunder by violating liberty and property.
The Socialist concept of Liberty
Follows that free people produce for the sake of not consuming; that liberty means oppression and madness among the people. Competition leads to monopoly.
And what remedy is proposed for this? To extend indefinitely the domain of the law; that is, the responsibility of government.
But if the government undertakes to control and to raise wages, and cannot do it; if the government undertakes to care for all who may be in want, and cannot do it; if the government un- dertakes to support all unemployed workers, and cannot do it; if the government undertakes to lend interest-free money to all borrowers, and cannot do it; if, in these words that we regret to say escaped from the pen of Mr de Lamartine, ‘The state considers that its purpose is to enlighten, to develop, to enlarge, to strengthen, to spiritualise, and to sanctify the soul of the people’ – and if the gov- ernment cannot do all of these things, what then? Is it not certain that after every government failure – which, alas!, is more than probable – there will be an equally inevitable revolution?
What is law? What ought it to be? What is its scope; its limits? Logically, at what point do the just powers of the legislator stop?
Law is the common force organised to act as an obstacle to injustice. In short, law is justice.
And if government were limited to its proper functions, everyone would soon learn that these matters are not within the jurisdiction of the law itself.
But make the laws upon the principle of fraternity – proclaim that all good, and all bad, stem from the law; that the law is re- sponsible for all individual misfortunes and all social inequalities – then the door is open to an endless succession of complaints, ir- ritations, troubles, and revolutions.
Law is justice. And it is under the law of justice – under the reign of right; under the influence of liberty, safety, stability, and responsi- bility – that every person will attain his real worth and the true dignity of his being. It is only under this law of justice that mankind will achieve – slowly, no doubt, but certainly – God’s design for the orderly and peaceful progress of humanity
The solution to the problems of human relationships is to be found in liberty.
Away with their artificial systems! Away with the whims of governmental administrators, their socialised projects, their centralisation, their tariffs, their government schools, their state religions, their free credit, their bank monopolies, their regulations, their restrictions, their equalisation by taxation, and their pious moralization!
For liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works.
Difference between conscience and justice and injustice
Alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law
Ignoring theoretical knowledge of what is law, they talk only about what’s legal.
Law just to protect the rights; we wouldn’t be talking about it.
1848 a revolution that didn’t want the established order to go back. In france. (fall of capitalism)
in order to fight socialism you need to fight in accordance with the law, play by the rules. Not by the brute force that you are trying to defend.
Difference between protectionism, socialism, communism
Root of socialism: is the philanthropy of plunder. This is taking something from someone without giving something back, for a general wealth.
Protectionism: interfering with property rights, and involuntary exchange.
Protective tariffs- Difference between tax and fee.
Tax- state collects certain amount of money for the wealth of the country. You have no choice.
Fee- charge for the paperwork when importing something.
Progressive taxation: increase salary, need to pay more taxes.
How we solve problems without violence? Research social science, a more peaceful and free society.
Detailed planned society, remove human error- utopian, predict everything to avoid problems. Human beings are learners, they continue leraning, create the environment people adjust and adapt to constant change. Not on things that we already know what’s best for everyone. Free society: trial and error. Experimenting, lots of possibilities in play, openness to discovery.
Socialists want forced conformity
Rousseau believed that the legislator should believe he can transform the human nature.
Legislators desire to mould mankind
Legislators think they have ways to instruct people according to context.
Success of a country is an skillful legislator. Source of what is good in society and knows how to implement it.
Legislators told how to manage men
Consider locality.
Legislators are molding human beings who have the ability to make their own plans. People he is governing has rational minds just like him.
A temporary dictatorship
Temporary and extraordinary measure of power. Justification of dictatorshop for short time, because society needs a blow.
Socialists want equality of wealth
Laws is the mean for obtaining equality in wealth and dignity.
The error of the socialist writers
The danger of writers focusing on their right ideal, and expecting future generation to follow them, impeding new knowledge to develop.
What is liberty?
Actually, what is the political struggle that we witness? It is the instinctive struggle of all people towards liberty. And what is this liberty, whose very name makes the heart beat faster and shakes the world? Is it not the union of all liberties – liberty of conscience, of education, of association, of the press, of travel, of labour, of trade? In short, is not liberty the freedom of every person to make full use of his faculties, so long as he does not harm other persons while doing so? Is not liberty the destruction of all despotism – including, of course, legal despotism? Finally, is not liberty the restricting of the law only to its rational sphere of organising the right of the individual to lawful self-defence; of punishing injustice?
Liberty is the freedom of every person to make full use of his faculties, so long as they don’t harm the property of others.
Philanthropic Tyranny
Set themselves above human nature so they can mold it.
The socialist want dictatorship
People should adjust own desires and believes for those of the legislators.
Purpose of government established virtue: method will be terror. Except by the use of force.
Dictatorial arrogance
Place themselves above everyone else, and remake society according to their own morality by using force.
The indirect approach to despotism
Write laws, indirectly not directly. Law becomes instrument for achieving their ends.
Napoleon wanted passive mankind
If you need to force people to believe it it is not rightful.
The vicious circle of socialism
The doctrine of the democrats
Election time legislator gives power to citizen, time of ruling is opposite
Law is force
Since the law organises justice, the socialists ask why the law should not also organise labour, education, and religion.
Why should not law be used for these purposes? Because it could not organise labour, education, and religion without destroying justice. We must remember that law is force, and that, consequently, the proper functions of the law cannot lawfully extend beyond the proper functions of force.
The Law and Education
he law has only two alternatives: it can permit this transaction of teaching- and-learning to operate freely and without the use of force, or it can force human wills in this matter by taking from some of them enough to pay the teachers who are appointed by government to instruct others, without charge. But in this second case, the law commits legal plunder by violating liberty and property.
The Socialist concept of Liberty
Follows that free people produce for the sake of not consuming; that liberty means oppression and madness among the people. Competition leads to monopoly.
And what remedy is proposed for this? To extend indefinitely the domain of the law; that is, the responsibility of government.
But if the government undertakes to control and to raise wages, and cannot do it; if the government undertakes to care for all who may be in want, and cannot do it; if the government un- dertakes to support all unemployed workers, and cannot do it; if the government undertakes to lend interest-free money to all borrowers, and cannot do it; if, in these words that we regret to say escaped from the pen of Mr de Lamartine, ‘The state considers that its purpose is to enlighten, to develop, to enlarge, to strengthen, to spiritualise, and to sanctify the soul of the people’ – and if the gov- ernment cannot do all of these things, what then? Is it not certain that after every government failure – which, alas!, is more than probable – there will be an equally inevitable revolution?
What is law? What ought it to be? What is its scope; its limits? Logically, at what point do the just powers of the legislator stop?
Law is the common force organised to act as an obstacle to injustice. In short, law is justice.
And if government were limited to its proper functions, everyone would soon learn that these matters are not within the jurisdiction of the law itself.
But make the laws upon the principle of fraternity – proclaim that all good, and all bad, stem from the law; that the law is re- sponsible for all individual misfortunes and all social inequalities – then the door is open to an endless succession of complaints, ir- ritations, troubles, and revolutions.
Law is justice. And it is under the law of justice – under the reign of right; under the influence of liberty, safety, stability, and responsi- bility – that every person will attain his real worth and the true dignity of his being. It is only under this law of justice that mankind will achieve – slowly, no doubt, but certainly – God’s design for the orderly and peaceful progress of humanity
The solution to the problems of human relationships is to be found in liberty.
Away with their artificial systems! Away with the whims of governmental administrators, their socialised projects, their centralisation, their tariffs, their government schools, their state religions, their free credit, their bank monopolies, their regulations, their restrictions, their equalisation by taxation, and their pious moralization!
For liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works.