Will We Become Victims Of Lawful Plunder?

As I continue to revisit Frederic Bastiat and his outstanding work, “The Law” one cannot help but benefit by his insights on the nature of man and the problems presented by our acting in unjust manners as it comes to the public square. Although, his insights were penned in 1850, Bastiat’s warnings are relevant for explaining the current tide of policies coming out of Washington, D.C.

Men naturally rebel against the injustice of which they are victims. Thus, when plunder is organized by law for the profit of those who make the law, all the plundered classes try somehow to enter—by peaceful or revolutionary means—into the making of laws. According to their degree of enlightenment, these plundered classes may propose one of two entirely different purposes when they attempt to attain political power: Either they may wish to stop lawful plunder, or they may wish to share in it.

Woe to the nation when this latter purpose prevails among the mass victims of lawful plunder when they, in turn, seize the power to make laws!

Until that happens, the few practice lawful plunder upon the many, a common practice where the right to participate in the making of law is limited to a few persons. But then, participation in the making of law becomes universal. And then, men seek to balance their conflicting interests by universal plunder.

Instead of rooting out the injustices found in society, they make these injustices general. As soon as the plundered classes gain political power, they establish a system of reprisals against other classes. They do not abolish legal plunder. (This objective would demand more enlightenment than they possess.) Instead, they emulate their evil predecessors by participating in this legal plunder, even though it is against their own interests.

It is as if it were necessary, before a reign of justice appears, for everyone to suffer a cruel retribution—some for their evilness, and some for their lack of understanding.

Although, I don’t believe that it is inevitable that a “cruel retribution” is necessary before course corrections will be made, I do think that Bastiat’s words are a warning for us today to not be ignorant of the growing, unlawful, plunder that is on our doorstep in the form of a massive redistribution of wealth.  We must do all we can to turn the tide of this “legal plunder.”

For Freedom’s Sake