If we think an issue is wrong or not as it should be, we are very quick to suggest a law that will fix the problem. We use the law for things for which it was not intended.

The law, Bastiat explains, is a collective force consisting of individuals. Because of this, it should not be permitted to do what an individual himself truly allowed to do. Authorized Plunder, as Bastiat calls it, is an example of something that has to be illegal for an individual to do, but it is considered legal when done by way of the government. This is a great example of that this law has been corrupted along with being being used to try to make everything that we might consider wrong, right. What is legal plunder? Here’s a superb quote by Bastiat:

“… how is this legal plunder being identified? Quite simply. See in the event the law takes from a few persons what belongs for them, and gives it to other persons to whom this doesn’t belong. See if the law benefits one citizen in the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. ”

So what should The Law be allowed to do? It should be permitted to do only what an individual should be permitted to do. For example, everyone would agree make fish an individual should be permitted to defend himself and their property. In this case, you can think in the collective force that is the government, as a group of people who are helping you defend yourself against someone wanting to take your life or even property. There is nothing wrong with a grouping of individuals helping you defend yourself, but there is something wrong with a grouping of people robbing someone, in the same way it is wrong on an individual to rob somebody. Once one starts viewing the government as a collective force made up of individuals, it is easy to realize that we have made sure crimes legal, as long as they’re just committed by the collective force that’s the government. The law’s purpose ought to be to protect the natural rights of an individual. These natural rights are definitely the right to life, liberty, and property; nothing more.

One vital point that Bastiat would make in his book is that the law is supposed to play damaging role, not a beneficial one. What he means by it’s that so often politicians use a law for what they consider to become justice, but justice may not be created. Justice is only present in the absence of injustice. For instance, The law should use to protect me from the injustice of having my property recinded from me by some other person. This is an example of that the law makes sure rights reigns; by making sure the injustice of getting my property stolen, doesn’t come about. On the other give, when politicians try to help those less fortunate by taking money from others, they are attempting to create what they think is justice, when in reality they are violating the natural rights in the people they are taking the money from, and are consequently creating an injustice, which is the opposite of what the law should do. raben ronnie, ronnie raben review, ronnir raben