tieguy said:
To be honest Wkmac I have not rejected or endorsed bestiats concepts. I'm just having a hard time visualizing his vision in application. Could you run through how you think this issue would be raised , legislated and tested under his system?
His system? Hmmm. I don't think Bastiat was forming his own political system as you might call it but go back to my very first post on the thread "The Law" and read what Bastiat said in his opening chapter. He talked about God having given each of us the gift of life, liberty and property and that this gift preceeded man's creation of gov't so thus it remains superior. But wait a minute, Life! Liberty! Property! Where have we heard those terms before? Now most people think today of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness which Thomas Jefferson gave us those words in the Declaration of Independence but in his earlier drafts the wording was life, liberty and property. Thomas Jefferson's words were in 1776' but Bastiat's was not until 1850' which is 74 years latter.
Could it just be that Bastiat's "system" as you put it was something he saw looking back at history which took place only 74' years earlier and could it be that he was making a claim to the french people at the time to consider the American model of thought as it pertained to gov't? Tie, I think you've made a very wrong assumption about Bastiat that you should reconsider. Bastiat will saying nothing of X-File type conspiracies of gov't or make wild accusations of conspiracies that you might find disturbing. Could he however present ideas on the human condition that might force you to think about the present and those ideas might conflict with your own? That could happen, yes. However, I think you might find a lot more in there that you agree on than disagree and you may also begin to appreciate more what the men that gave us our birthright of freedom and at the same time yes you will get a better idea of their thinking and how far we've moved from it.
As for Bastiat's solution to the condition considered in the article at the link, why don't you first just read down the table of content's of "The Law" considering the titles of each chapter and then consider some of Bastiat's writtings and you tell me what you think he would do. I leave you with this from "The Law". Take care and enjoy the weekend!
What Is Liberty?
Actually, what is the political struggle that we witness? It is the instinctive struggle of all people toward liberty. And what is this liberty, whose very name makes the heart beat faster and shakes the world? Is it not the union of all liberties liberty of conscience, of education, of association, of the press, of travel, of labor, of trade? In short, is not liberty the freedom of every person to make full use of his faculties, so long as he does not harm other persons while doing so? Is not liberty the destruction of all despotism including, of course, legal despotism? Finally, is not liberty the restricting of the law only to its rational sphere of organizing the right of the individual to lawful self-defense; of punishing injustice?
It must be admitted that the tendency of the human race toward liberty is largely thwarted, especially in France. This is greatly due to a fatal desire learned from the teachings of antiquity that our writers on public affairs have in common: They desire to set themselves above mankind in order to arrange, organize, and regulate it according to their fancy.
end of quote
To this I concur completely and say Amen Brother Bastiat!
