Famous Frederic Bastiat Quote 

"Sometimes the law defends plunder and participates in it. Thus the
beneficiaries are spared the shame and danger that their acts would
otherwise involve... But how is this legal plunder to be identified?
Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to
them and gives it to the other persons to whom it doesn't belong.
See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing
what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then
abolish that law without delay ... No legal plunder; this is the
principle of justice, peace, order, stability, harmony and logic."

by:
Frederic Bastiat
(1801-1850) French economist, statesman, and author. He did most of his writing during the years just before -- and immediately following -- the French Revolution of February 1848.
Date:
June 1850
Source:
"The Law" by Frederic Bastiat, 1850
http://liberty-tree.ca/research/TheLaw
Categories:
 
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Reader comments about this quote:
 -- Yndrd1984, Ames, IA 
A perfect description of the US Tax system.
 -- Mike, NC		 
A perfect description of evading social responsibility by the rich for those the rich got rich on...
 -- Anonymous, Reston, VA US		 
Social responsibility? There is no social responsibility in a Republic but to one's own self. The only time an individual in a member of a greater whole is in either pure socialism and communism or in a type of democractic socialism. We're not in a democracy - don't let the media fool anyone into thinking that a democracy is the only form of government that allows "voting" or for "the voice of the people to be heard". How can anyone not believe in legalized plunder? How can anyone not see how the government steals from one man and gives to another? Is this justice? Is this right? Do I as a person have a right to steal from a rich man and give to a poor man? If I don't, then in a Republic, I don't have the ability of delegating something I don't have to a government for them to do it for me - it's against the Rule of Law in America! People, learn your history!!
 -- Logan, Memphis, TN		 
More of us need to wake up and think like this, and not expect to be given what's not ours. It's not the government's money, it belongs to someone who worked very hard to earn it, and that person should have the right to spend it in a manner that best benefits him, his family, and his community.
 -- Judith Ohlmann, Midland		 
I think that those who comment here are satisfying a need of their own, but not contributing to the pool of understanding. Taxes pay for public works. No tax revenue = no armed forces, no interstate highways, no border protection, etc. Public assistance to the needy is plunder whenever the "needy" are not needy, when they are able but unwilling to work. There are those who really cannot work, and I say we have the responsibility of seeing to their basic needs. There are many examples of legal plunder, but there are also examples of what might be argued to be justifiable expenses of government. Of course, corruption exists. Social responsibility is what keeps you from being run off the road by someone with an old vehicle that still runs well. He is supposed to care that your newer car is not yet scratched. It keeps people like me from maiming those who deserve it.
 -- David L. Rosenthal , Hollywood		 
Legislators make it easy to create a law and damn near impossible to abolish it. Judges seem to ignore laws at their convenience.
 -- Joe, Rochester, MI		 
 -- Chris Cardiff, San Jose 
Public Assistance to the "needy" is plunder regarless of whether or not they truly are needy. It is plunder whether or not we have a responsiblity to see to the needy's basic needs. It is plunder because the government is using the police force to take money from those who spent blood, sweat and tears getting it, and giving that money to the needy who did nothing more than vote the right person into office. Or, in other words, it is plunder because the governmnet is taking money from those who need it and earned it, and giving it to those who also need it but didn't earn it. If the government passed a law giving the needy the right to collect money from the rich by threat of force, i.e., by theft, I don't think many people would have trouble identifying that as plunder. So why can't they see plunder when the government hires an IRS agent to do the stealing, and charges the taxpayers the agent's wages to boot?
 -- Johnson, Gainesville, FL		 
This quote speaks well in the plunder of our mobile homes to feed the greed for redevelopment of a senior park where senior owners lease their land, but then public funds must be granted to assist the aged inhabitants in relocations, thus two plunders
 -- Dick Balser, Everett, WA		 
Here is the question those of you who support government controlled charity, should really be asking yourself. By what moral or ethical right does any one have in initiating force to deprive another of their rights to life, liberty or property? By any standard of analysis, support of any form of government controlled charity, means that you want to use government force to make people pay for what you think is important, not what they may feel is important. This is what I feel that Frederic Bastiat was driving at.
 -- JOSEPH VECA, Everett, WA		 
Evading Social Responsibility? One's first social responsibility is to take care of one's self so that they are not a burden to society, and then to respect other people and their property. Only by going down the spiral of evading personal responsibility do we get to what the Anonymous poster referred to. Funny how people that fail to take care of themselves as part of their social responsibility are audacious enough to claim that the failure of others to give unearned money to them is irresponsible. This is the same rationale that robbers and burglars use when they take your things. "I need it more than you do." Please note that most people that support enabling welfare programs do not give to charity. They EVADE social responsibility by NOT giving their own time and community. Instead, they throw someone money at the symptoms of poverty with someone else's money. ONE CANNOT BE COMPASSIONATE BY SPENDING SOMEONE ELSE'S MONEY. Once our constitution was ignored, the legal plunder was free to be divided amongst everyone including the latest group of welfare mothers... the board members of several banks. It is an enabling device... merely because they will not split up mortgage bundles and evaluate them individually at their reappraised value. I'm for the notion that our tax and investment system should encourage charity and things that promote the GENERAL welfare... things that can be used by all but not a select few based upon arbitrary notions of "fairness" or "need". I wish someone would explain why someone who will not work and/or save money is not EVADING THEIR RESPONSIBILITY.
 -- Michael Gilroy, Nashville		 
 -- Anonymous 
First of all (once again), a republic IS a kind of democracy. Also, consider the following: a person who will not work or save money might not be intentionally evading their responsibilities... these actions are evidence that they were not taught properly by their UNDERFUNDED schools about money management. They, in turn, will pass their ignorance onto their children, creating an unending cycle of poverty. If we want to stop this cycle, we have to pay taxes to support public education; I fail to see how anyone, even the taxpayers, can possibly not benefit from that. I also fail to see how it's MORAL that some people are obscenely rich while millions are on the brink of starvation-people publicize suffering, but clearly don't care enough to take significant action against it. Perhaps if you don't like the idea of "government-sponsored charity," you would be willing to support the revival of FDR's public works programs. That way, everyone gets immediate satisfaction, which seems to be the only thing people these days care about.
 -- Anonymous		 
Life is hard. Its harder when you're stupid and lazy. There are VERY rare cases that people legitimately need the government to take care of them. If they refuse to avail themselves of the resources which are already offered to them so that they can care for themselves they are stupid, lazy or both. Until these people are forced to live with the consequences of their actions we will be forced to keep paying for them.
 -- Anonymous		 
Everyone seems hooked upon the idea that those who are in poverty are lazy, stupid, whatever...I think the more interesting assumption is the one that people who have money, "blood, sweat and tears getting it." That assumption is so inane as to be laughable. Did G.W. Bush work hard, or was his wealth inherited? How many thousands of examples do you want? Why are the children of the poor (who have not yet had their chance to be either industrious or lazy) deserve any less than the children of the wealthy (who have similarly not made their choice). If you honestly think that those born into poverty have equal opportunity compared to those born into wealth then I honestly don't know what to say. The falsehood of that equality is born out EVERY day in this country. Children of the poor are condemned to poor nutrition, poor schools and limited opportunities. Children of the rich are absolutely not subject to the same hardships. You argue for the poor to take individual responsibility and I agree. But to fail to acknowledge the inherent advantages of middle class and wealth is childish. Have your children gone to sleep hungry? Do they have to drop out of school to work menial jobs just to survive? Why not? Were they born better than the children of the poor? Set aside your grandstanding regarding adults and explain how, in the absence of government assistance, the children of the poor will have any legitimate equality of opportunity.
 -- Ed, Rapid City		 
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