The Law

I have not read this work for 45 years. I have a greater appreciation now in light of the current political and administrative State we live in today as opposed to any other time of my life. I a ‘Just’ society it should be required reading and adherence for judges and society as a whole. I doubt the population as it exist today would even come close to grasping the importance of ‘The Law’. Thus Liberty does not exist.

In 1850 a French guy wrote this little essay on the Law. It could have been written today in the US, in Europe, because we are certainly not progressing in terms of common-sense, politically. Here are some ideas: -Justice is the absence of injustice. Nothing more than that. -What God does is well done. Do not claim to know more than Him. The fact that this rule is almost universally broken says much about our level of hubris. For Bastiat Law is a minus, it takes away. His subject is so relevant today that we can see the results of the States false philanthropy, just as Orwell warned us in his Animal Farm. Western governments certainly know how to belittle us... we couldnt do without them. In Spain we have this government commercial encouraging drivers to drive well: We cant drive for you! They wished. The only idea that they think about it tells how far theyve got under our skin. This book is dynamite. Makes one see the world today in a clear and detached way. Who are the philanthropists that we owe so much devotion to? Take Gores greedy schemes with his mineral mines behind his climactic facade. Take another homeless, Soros, the preacher of the Left, whose God is money. To be a Pharisee is indeed to love the Law while hating man, to use the Law to make Injustice legal, to pervert Justice, to become a new god to modern State worshippers, wellfare addicts. Yes, Bastiat would sure be ashamed to see what the West has become: the legalized plunder by the State.

I listened to the Audible version x 3 and couldnt get over how 170 year old essay felt totally contemporary. It talks about failing public schools, banksters extracting dividends from governmental connections, protective taxes for the connected manufacturers, regulation as barrier to entry etc. Law can pervert to violent means of plunder and we witness this progression on nearly daily basis in present day USA. On top of that - great foreword by Thomas di Lorenzo, a treat in its own right.

Excellent read. The realization that the same political turmoil we are going through now was going on in 19th century France is stunning and Bastiat has a way of laying out the truth unlike any of todays pundits.

I found this an excellent review of historical thinking prior to the industrial revolution. As I read books written in the 1800s I see the thoughts of the time. Unfortunately, most writers did not take into consideration that our various civilizations, and cultures came about on the backs of slaves. Slavery allowed the Greek Republic to bloom before Christ. I believe most just assumed that slavery though wrong, was a necessary evil. However today we face a different reality, we still have slavery but we no longer need it to build culture, due to robotics and automation. We need to change the law, not to take from the rich and give to the poor, but to provided incentives for the people who own the factors of productions (companies, stocks, and resources) to share these resources via ownership transference to the common worker, and not to the state, as in socialism. I think as a people we can make this happen without a violent revolution, because if we can not have full employment in the future, how does the common person purchase the goods and services available. I would state that improvements in technology, along with automation and robotics will eventually eliminate most jobs.

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If you have no idea what Libertarianism is and would like to understand, this would be a wonderful book for you. I got my mom to read it and she loved it. Its only around 70 pages, so its really short. But there is so much philosophy in here that it will blow your mind. If I could add any one book to the high school curriculum throughout the U.S., it would be this book. The title of the book is called The Law. The title gives away the whole message. Bastiat shares his views on what the function of law should be in any society. Here is the folly that we have committed in this modern day of legislation - Here I encounter the most popular fallacy of our

This was written in 1850, just after the 1848 revolution in France. Bastiat was concerned by all the different groups that were trying to use The Law or in Hayeks words, The State to remake society into their vision of a more perfect society. Bastiat argues that trying to use the law to help out one group does so at the expense of another group, he calls this legal plunder and points out how in the long run this will ruin society. Bastiat starts off saying that the basic gifts man has from God are: life, liberty, and property. It is appropriate and correct to defend yourself, your liberty, and your property. The Law was created to ensure that individuals in society were allowed to use these gifts. Bastiat says that unfortunately The Law is abused by the greed and false philanthropy of man. There are two basic ways of getting ahead in life, the first is to work hard and produce, the second is to plunder from others. When trade off and risks for plunder are better than labor, many people will turn to plunder. It is very tempting for those who make laws to use the law to plunder. Bastiat says legal plunder is to use the law to take property, which if was done without the benefit of the law would have been considered a crime. He has some fairly pointed barbs at socialists. He says many of the writers at his time seem to view people as raw material, to be formed or controlled. He says that most socialists see mankind as evil, while they (the socialists) are good. This leads the socialists to feeling justified in using The Law to make mankind be good. Bastiat asks why so many people in government feel that mankind makes too many mistakes, but that they in government are nobler and will make better choices. This is short, and because the original format was a pamphlet, Bastiat acknowledges that it is not complete. So many of his points and arguments are brief. This is a good call to action, to encourage people to be more informed about their government, and to work to limit the government. So much of what Bastiat said long ago is still true.

My husband is very pleased with this book.

One of the best books I ever read. Bastiat is a sheer genius! We have been swindled, our liberties have been chipped away and our freedom has been usurped by the government that in the name of justice robs the talented and just, creates a huge spread for itself and gives a few morsels here and there to the dumb, lazy and degenerate mob which by default is just as unjust as the government as it contributes to this very robbery by electing the government into the public office. And this entire enterprise is backboned on the pseudo-academia - the basket-weaving Ph.D.s of the basket-weaving universities who day after day crank out a study after as study to provide theoretical support for this mass injustice. On behalf of the American nation, I would like to thank everyone that participated in publishing this amazing book. P.S. I would also highly recommend the following books: 1. Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman 2. Freedom and Prosperity in the 21st Century by George Stasen and Zviad Kliment Lazarashvili 3. The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek 4. Liberalism by Ludwig von Mises 5. American Heroes by Zviad Kliment Lazarashvili