Customer Reviews
Puts political arguments in the proper perspective
Arguing from the humble perspective of one of mankind's observers rather than the conceited perspective one of its shapers, Mr. Bastiat effectively defines the only rational purpose of Law.
What is the purpose of Law, according to Mr. Bastiat? To establish a constant force of lawful defense of each person's natural right to defend his life, liberty, and property against any unjust attack. In a word, Justice.
To establish his point, Mr. Bastiat challenges anyone to name a single endeavor that a government can do in addition to securing these rights that does not itself trample upon them, and then analyses the numerous feeble attempts by legislators and philosophers to do this. In his trenchent analysees, he exposes the absolute absurdities of such proposals.
A delightful and tremendously important book.
"Let Us Now Try Liberty"
Fredric Bastiat's "The Law" covers much more than simply legal constructs. It is an in-depth study of the nature of ordered liberty, economics, socialism, law, the human drive to control others and the interaction between them.
It is amazing to read Bastiat's (he was a French economist) dire warnings about socialism and compare those warnings to what is happening in modern day France. France faces high unemployment, its economic growth is non-existant and it is a welfare state where the 35 hour work week recently led to 35,000 deaths during a heat wave because doctors on vacation refused to return to treat the sick.
I recognize that capitalism has its problems as well, and I would have loved to see Bastiat deal more with the problem of the poor in capitalist societies, but I suppose that is a topic for another book. I suspect that Bastiat would have supported private charities to support the poor as this would not have conflicted with his notion of "forced charity" and the degradation of liberty.
In sum, "The Law" is a magnificent thesis on the importance of liberty. It is genius in its simplicity and compelling in its argument. This book will help you understand why Patrick Henry proudly proclaimed hundreds of years ago: "Give me liberty or give me death!"
Fascinating and thought-provoking
Frederic Bastiat (1801-50) was a French economist, philosopher and statesman, and this book was written by him as he was already dying of tuberculosis. In The Law, Monsieur Bestiat examines what the natures of law and government are and what they should be, and shows how the natural greed of humanity leads to a perversion of them. He goes on to show that the natural result of this "legal plunder" is ultimately communism and a dictatorship, not of the proletariat, but of a self-styled elite that views the proletariat as a raw material to be molded and, if necessary, broken.
I must say that Frederic Bastiat was able to pack more fascinating analysis into a short space than any other writer I have ever seen. He was definitely cast in the same mold as the founding fathers of the United States, with his belief that life, liberty and property are the unalienable gifts of God. He persuasively argues for the defense of these rights, and shows what happens when a people decide to trample upon them.
If you are interested in the philosophy that produced the United States of America, then I highly recommend that you read this fascinating and thought-provoking book!
