Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

To: MosesKnows; V K Lee; Liz; HarleyLady27
Moses, a good post. Enjoyed musing about your comment in my mind.

Why is there corruption in Government?

The answer is found in Bastiat's essay, The Law.

Bastiat was a Frenchman of the 19th century and perhaps no one has set down the philosophical argument for Freedom against Socialism better than Bastiat in that essay.

A year ago I spent some time lightly editing the on-line English translation to simplify Bastiat's message and make it more compelling to read. I also cut out sections on Universal Sufferage that was irrelevant to my purpose.

You can download my version of The Law in Microsoft Word format here.

The long and short of his message is:

  1. Men are naturally inclined to avoid pain and they have a tendency to steal the goods of others if they get away with it without being found out or punished.

  2. The Law, or the collective power of Free men to establish a Police force, is the means for stopping this plunder and punishing it. If the plunder is not punished, it will continue.

  3. Soon enough, the Law, instead of checking injustice, becomes the invincible weapon of injustice (corruption). Says Baatiat, "A legislator can use the law to destroy -- in varying degrees -- a person’s independence by slavery, their liberty by oppression, and their property by plunder."

  4. In this way "Legal Plunder" becomes rooted in the society. And this is the regime that the Democrats and Republicans have created -- and what Trump is fighting against.

19 posted on 09/19/2019 2:48:45 PM PDT by poconopundit (Will Kamel Harass pay reparations? Her ancestors were black Slave Owners in Jamaica.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


To: poconopundit
Great observation.

“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” ― Frédéric Bastiat

Reconcile that with Ayn Rand's observation; "When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you - you know your nation is doomed."

So again, why do we elect corruptible representatives?

21 posted on 09/19/2019 5:42:40 PM PDT by MosesKnows
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson