"Petition"
The economy has a way of all working together, one thing happening can drastically change the sales or demand of another thing. I felt that you interpreted this analogy in a very unique way and I did not think of it entirely this way. Your analogy interpretation was a very interesting read. I really like how you pointed out the effects of one good can change another, and then it just continues to fall from there. That really helps people understand the economy in different ways, as well as educating them about it. I also feel like unfortunately there is a lot of discoveries that are kept under wraps in order to not negatively impact the social economy. There are so many things that we as a society may not know about, which is very scary to think about from our perspective.
"Government"
The essence of Bastiat's style, I would argue, is him presenting the contradictions he has noticed to us in a self-insertable literary style that can seem contradictory. I don't believe Bastiat is very contradictory. Bastiat repeats all of the newspaper and speaker cries from the outset of government, with part of them opposing their very own claims.
"Law"
Regarding law enforcement, I concur with your arguments. Bastiat could have some fascinating things to say regarding police enforcement in particular, in my opinion. He claims that the only goal of the state is to protect people from injustice, which suggests the necessity for some form of enforcement. I agree that police officers should have some discretion in how they exercise their authority, but I also believe that when it comes to upholding the law, fatal action may occasionally be necessary. In a split-second, high-intensity, high-danger circumstance like the one that law enforcement finds itself in, it is hard for me to see permitting a human to be the judge, juror, and executioner of another person.
Once you have people in power that use the law as a weapon to keep themselves in a place of extreme power, it is very hard to undo that.
Personally I agree with this because I think in society we see this all too much, and when we give too much power to a certain person it can be very difficult to undo. It is important to not give too much power to someone so soon.