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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. According to their degree of enlightenment, these plundered classes may propose one of two entirely different purposes when they attempt to attain political power: Either they may wish to stop lawful plunder, or they may wish to share in it.

Woe to the nation when this latter purpose prevails among the mass victims of lawful plunder when they, in turn, seize the power to make laws! Until that happens, the few practice lawful plunder upon the many, a common practice where the right to participate in the making of law is limited to a few persons. But then, participation in the making of law becomes universal. And then, men seek to balance their conflicting interests by universal plunder. Instead of rooting out the injustices found in society, they make these injustices general. As soon as the plundered classes gain political power, they establish a system of reprisals against other classes. They do not abolish legal plunder. (This objective would demand more enlightenment than they possess.) Instead, they emulate their evil predecessors by participating in this legal plunder, even though it is against their own interests.

http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html


9 posted on 11/24/2020 6:41:33 AM PST by PGalt (Past Peak Civilization?)
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To: PGalt
As soon as the plundered classes gain political power, they establish a system of reprisals against other classes.

This theory doesn't fit the current dynamic, as antifa/blm and those they claim to speak for were never plundered, but are the beneficiaries of lawful plunder going on half a century now. We are the plundered, and will soon be even more plundered.

15 posted on 11/24/2020 7:23:08 AM PST by TimSkalaBim
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