The Law

The Law, by Frederic Bastiat was first published in 1850. It is one of my favorite books. It is only 68 small pages but holds some of the best lessons about what a righteous government looks like. I am going to talk about it here.

Life is a gift from God. He put us here on earth to create, grow and learn.

“Individuality, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.”

Every individual has the right to defend his rights so he has the right to join with others to form a government to protect those rights. A person does not have the right to use force against his neighbor to violate his rights so he can’t delegate that power to government. For example, one of my neighbors has 2 cars and a third doesn’t have a car. I have no right to take one car from my neighbor with 2 and give it to the neighbor without one. It is morally wrong. It remains wrong if that action is delegated to government. It becomes legal plunder. It is wrong in God’s eyes and that government has become corrupt.

The most righteous government possible would be a limited government whose only job is to protect the rights of its constituents. This is a government pleasing to God. In this government each individual would be responsible for his own success or failure.

There are two reasons that a government becomes an enemy to the people whom it is created to protect: stupid greed and false philanthropy. Addressing the first, there are some people who would like to have other people take care of his needs and wants. This is called plunder. These people steal from others to make themselves comfortable. This will happen as long as the stealing is less painful than the work he would have to do himself to get the same things. The plunder will stop when the stealing becomes more painful that the work needed to achieve the same things. “All measures of the law should protect property and punish plunder”. Sometimes people get elected who use power to cause law to be an instrument of plunder rather that protecting property. We have come to a day when people try to get elected to share in the plunder.

“It is impossible to introduce into a society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.”

The right to property is the basis for the definition to plunder. People have a right to own property and have total control over that property.

“When a portion of wealth is transferred from a person who owns it without his consent and without compensation, and whether by force or by fraud—to anyone who does not own it, then I say that property is violated, that an act of plunder is committed.”

Justice is achieved only when injustice is absent. Anytime government tries to regulate anything outside of it’s job to protect individual rights to life, property and liberty, they create injustice. Injustice in a society is dangerous to that society. It will create conflict.

I hope you will go to Archive.org and read this book. I feel that every American should read and re-read this book. Reading this book will give people the necessary mindset that they need to return this country to its origins.

Thanks for your time. I really appreciate it.

Jennifer Doud