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ABOUT
Bastiat’s The Law is a manifesto of individual liberty, justice and limited government. It was written over 150 years ago in support of human rights and against centralized control. Bastiat places special emphasis on the operation of a just State and the problems with a welfare state.
Many libertarian organizations use Bastiat to advance their cause.
HISTORY
At this point we are making the transition from the Founding to 19th century political thought. Although Bastiat does not make huge philosophical leaps from the founders, do note the different threats to liberty that Bastiat is talking about. From this point forward beware of any changes in political thought, as we approach progressivism these changes become very important.
When Bastiat was writing this short book, many members of the intellectual and political community in Europe were turning towards statism as a legitimate political and economic system.
MY ANALYSIS
The Law stands out among the other texts in the reading list because it was written by a foreigner about political economy in general, not an exclusive analysis of American policy. Even more interesting is that this text is more applicable today than many of the other documents on the list. A century and half after it was written, Bastiat’s book offers clarity on numerous topics, from economics to government to personal liberty.
The person who first introduced me to Bastiat may have changed my political philosophy indefinitely. Not only was Bastiat’s analysis important in organizing my philosophical and political views, but it also offered innovative arguments in favor of the utilitarian and moral benefits of personal and economic liberty.
Our Founding Fathers and Bastiat would have agreed that the greatest single threat to liberty is the State. No doubt Bastiat could have helped Jefferson pen the Declaration of Independence. In the words of Walter Williams:
The signers’ vision of liberty and the proper role of government was captured in the immortal words “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain Unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men. . . .” Bastiat echoes the identical vision, saying, “Life, faculties, production— in other words individuality, liberty, property— that is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it.”
We see again the republican ideal of individual liberty as the ends of government. In Bastiat’s time the French Government was experiencing many of the political-social-economic shifts that the United States is going through today; that is why The Law is such an applicable text. As far as protecting “Natural Rights,” Bastiat insists that, “The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose!”
His argument is a simple syllogism: define good law, explain how the law has become perverted, and then provide a solution. Accordingly, I will break down the text into his definitions, his explanation and his solution.
DEFINITIONS:
- What are our natural rights?
“Each of us has a natural right—from God—to defend his person, his liberty, and his property. These are the three basic requirements of life, and the preservation of any one of them is completely dependent upon the preservation of the other two. For what are our faculties but the extension of our individuality? And what is property but an extension of our faculties?”
- What is Liberty?
“Finally, is not liberty the restricting of the law only to its rational sphere of organizing the right of the individual to lawful self-defense; of punishing injustice?”
- What is Justice?
Justice is the protection of life, liberty and property.
- What is Law?
Given that natural right to defense, law is “the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense.”
- What is a Just and Enduring Government?
A government that correctly uses authority to protect natural rights.
PERVERSION:
- How has the law been perverted?
“The law has placed the collective force at the disposal of the unscrupulous who wish, without risk, to exploit the person, liberty, and property of others.”
- A Fatal Tendency of Mankind
“But there is also another tendency that is common among people. When they can, they wish to live and prosper at the expense of others.”
- Property and Plunder
The Origin of Property:
• Man can live and satisfy his wants only by ceaseless labor; by the ceaseless application of his faculties to natural resources. This process is the origin of property.
The Cause of Plunder:
• “Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain—and since labor is pain in itself—it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder is easier than work. History shows this quite clearly. And under these conditions, neither religion nor morality can stop it.”(Note: the problem is systemic rather than moral. A solution must be a solution changing the structure of government)
- Victims of Lawful Plunder
“Men naturally rebel against the injustice of which they are victims. Thus, when plunder is organized by law for the profit of those who make the law, all the plundered classes try somehow to enter—by peaceful or revolutionary means—into the making of laws.” (Note: Lobbying is a product of redistributive plunder)
- The Effects of Legal Plunder
“…it erases from everyone’s conscience the distinction between justice and injustice.”
“When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.”
SOLUTION:
- The Choice Regarding Plunder
• “The few plunder the many.” — “This system prevailed when the right to vote was restricted. One would turn back to this system to prevent the invasion of socialism. “
• “Everybody plunders everybody.”–“We have been threatened with this new system since the franchise was made universal. The newly enfranchised majority has decided to formulate law on the same principle of legal plunder that was use by their predecessors when the vote was limited.”
• “Nobody plunders anybody.”– “This is the principle of justice, peace, order, stability, harmony and logic.”
- Socialism is not the Answer
“Since the law organizes justice, the socialists ask why the law should not also organize labor, education, and religion. Why should not law be used for these purposes? Because it could not organize labor, education, and religion without destroying justice.”
- Law is a Negative Concept
“It ought to be stated that the purpose of the law is to prevent injustice from reigning. In fact, it is injustice, instead of justice, that has an existence of its own. Justice is achieved only when injustice is absent.”
- The Solution
• “A science of economics must be developed before a science of politics can be logically formulated.”
• Immediately following the development of a science of economics, and at the very beginning of the formulation of a science of politics, this all-important question must be answered: 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?
- Legislative function
• “The existence of persons and property preceded the existence of the legislator, and his function is only to guarantee their safety.”
Conclusion:
For Bastiat, the true essence of a just government is individual liberty. Not too big a deal when compared to Jefferson’s Declaration, Publius’ Federalist Papers or Washington’s cardinal speeches.
However, Bastiat places special emphasis on legal plunder: redistribution of property as the government sees fit. Undoubtedly, there is a certain level of this going on in the United States. Is it a problem?
Read What Sort of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear (Alexis De Tocqueville) for tomorrow!
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