The Law (Loi)

This book was a Christmas gift and an amusing one at that.  One day at work a coworker gave me a copy of this book printed from a link at Neal Boortz's site.  That evening, in late November, I brought the stapled packet home and laid it on the counter top, planning to read on the throne. The bride told me that I could not read the book, without actually saying made clear that she had bought the same book as a Christmas present. When Christmas rolled around, the book was not under the tree, she had lost the darned thing.  Eventually the hard copy tuned up, and then eventually I read the book.

The Law, was written by Frédéric Bastiat, more accurately Claude Frédéric Bastiat, a Frenchman described as a classical liberal and political economist. The author lived from 1801 to 1850, dying at the age of 49 after contracting tuberculosis.

This book was published as a pamphlet in 1850. It describes in a series of short articles the conflicts and benefits of law, justice and liberty.  In this he makes clear that socialism is system within which the legislator promises unacheivable benefits to attain political power, then substitutes his caste system, the legislative for the rich, and asserts power over an misled constituency.  There is contempt for both socialism and communism.
Bastiat had a skill had writing quotable prose. These are some of my favorite....

“Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone.”

and

“Often the masses are plundered and do not know it.”

This is a short book and I think very interesting in the respect that it was written 161 years ago and still puts the tail on the socialist donkey.

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