The key in Bastait's Law is the perception of something being fair to one group of people might not be fair and just to another group. Frederic Bastait believed that private property is owned by an individual, and when that property is forced out of that individual's hand and into another individual's hand, by the supposed law: that law has become destructive to justice and equality of the land.
Knowing this, take a closer look at the creditors in the U.S. and attempt to figure out why they can charge us any amount of interest, and when we default they can come after our private possesions, and even our wages?
I served 9 years active duty in the US Navy and never once recieved a offer for a credit card. When I was honorable discharged and started to attend college, I would receive about 2 or 3 credit card preapprovals a week. Hmmmmmm, why? Well I think it has something to do with the Soldier and Sailor Relief Act of 1940, which limits the amount of interest that can be charged to an active duty member. Now it clicks into place, I was not a poor sap that could be charged 30% interest for being late on a payment before I seperated, and now I'm just another unprotected consumer.
For more info on the credit card industry, go PBS frontline and watch the Secret History of the Credit Card, at
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/view/

I had just finished Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged about a week before I read (and fully annotated) The Law. It seemed like a really great follow-up to Rand, stating concisely how and why governments can resort to legalized theft in the name of virtue. I don't know the extent of Rand's studies or whether she read The Law, but I drew a lot of parallels. I intend to pass my copy along to someone who hasn't had the beneft of looking at government-sponsored 'charity' from such a perspective. Hopefully it can be a useful tool in spreading the mesage of freedom and responsibility.

"When plunder (Absolute capitalism, taking more than you give) becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it."--Frederic Bastiat, The Law

This is a concept that has troubled me for years, and it wasn't until I read Bastiat that I understood how unjust our system of taxation truly is.

This is a must read for anyone who still believes that a person has a fundamental and god-given right to the fruits of his or her labor.

I think it's a great book to give those that are on the fence about Libertarianism...those that might be somewhat academic and liberal but don't seem to connect the concept of that charity isn't charitable when you take it by force from another individual.

He died in 1850, I believe, so it was written even before that! Amazing how timely it is, truly.

:)

Peace,

Kelly Halldorson
kelly@halldorson.com

"No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path."
-Buddha

On March 20.1988, I wrote a thoughtful letter to "Bono" of U2 suggesting that perhaps what he was looking for was contained in Bastiat's "The Law."

I titled it, of course, "What You Are Looking For." I sent him a copy and thought, perhaps, he would see the light and champion the blessings of liberty.

I have no idea if he ever got it.

If he did, then I have no idea if he would "get it."

It doesn't appear so.

"The Universe is a big place - maybe the biggest." Kilgore Trout.

Frederic Bastait was light years ahead of his ( and our ) time!

This book really is incredible... It is only 100 pages or so but it is amazing. The fact that a french guy wrote in 1850 an essay that is very libertarian is just incredible.