#Federic Bastiat from Petition
In Petition, I like how he warns of the dangers of continuing to rely so heavily on foreign production and considers the benefits vs disadvantages of foreign production. That is what man has done through history at times, make whatever comfortability at all costs which is really a selfish way of living, but people are selfish. "We are suffering from the intolerable competition of a foreign rival" (Bastiat 2011, p. 228) I know he is alluding to lawmakers making ridiculous laws when alluding to the government making a law to shut the windows to keep the sun out to sell more candles, but I also feel he has animosity for France selling their production to foreign markets.
“The question, and we pose it formally, is whether what is you desire from France is the benefit of consumption of free of charge the alleged advantages of onerous production.” (Bastiat 2011, p 232)
I think what he was trying to warn France of was the coming challenges of having the benefit of getting everything from overseas instead of producing it within the country which the United States will start to feel the pressure from a similar problem in the coming years. Through the years big corporations have sold-out production to foreign markets more and more dwindling our middle class which is the class that shows you the strength of the economy in a country and in America 75% of people live paycheck to paycheck. Which in turn makes it harder to have a stable economy when so many people are struggling, but America has a work culture like no other which keeps it going because there are always people looking to work.
In the next reading, Government, Bastiat says that government is whoever has a monopoly on violence which I think is sort of true. I believe it’s whoever has the stick as Theodore Roosevelt would say, “Speak softly, but carry a big stick.” Government is whoever holds that stick per say. “One thing, however, remains – it is the original inclination which exists in all men to divide the lot of life into two parts, throwing the trouble upon others, and keeping the satisfaction for himself.”(Bastiat 2011, p. 92) Bastiat seemed like a cynical man in this sentence however it is true in a way, but I don’t think fully. Yes, naturally people want and need to take the work load off, especially as a business owner for example, but that doesn’t mean that the owner is trying to take advantage of people and just take the credit. I see it as helping people better than someone else would. As long as I can do a little more than mostly everyone else does, I feel like I am doing right by whoever works for me. His statement is true though. Everyone is inherently a little selfish because we have to take care of ourselves at the end of the day and I think that's what Bastiat was trying to say.
"The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish!”(Bastiat 2011, p. 49)
Right here Bastiat is saying the law that we intended to be the government to our society has become almost a weapon for manipulation by whomever is power hungry enough to use it. I do agree with Bastiat here, because I feel like the system relies too much on loyalty rather than even focusing on what’s right and wrong which shouldn’t that be the main goal, Justice...? When did our court systems turn into a revolving door for people with obvious drug addictions that the system just milks off of because when I was in jail that is what comprises at least 60%-75% of the people who get booked in at county jails, drug addicts. We’ve seen throughout history those in power will do whatever to stay in power so by having a system that relies on going through hoops and appeasing others is it not cultivating a pit of snakes because more often than not a man of integrity will just choose to stay out of it because what are you supposed to do against someone who will do whatever it takes to win? Especially when you are running against master manipulators and desperate people who have the need to stay in whatever position of “power” they think they have. So I agree with Bastiat again when he said the law becomes a weapon of every kind of greed. If such a person is in power, they will bend or definitely try to bend the law to their will which throughout history we have seen countless men try and do.
Personally, I think the system is too rigid when it should be more flexible because everyone is different, and that’s how we should approach law. Not with so many generalizations especially when we are dealing with actual people. Sometimes things shouldn’t be generalized. There should be a better categorization of crime and less favor to the upper 1%, but can that exist in a capitalistic society? My other opinion is that people are too negligent with things they know are wrong too, people need to speak up.
Sources:
- Bastiat Frédéric. (2011). Petition of the Manufacturers of Candles, Waxlights, Lamps, Candlelights, Street Lamps, Snuffers, Extinguishers, and the Producers of Oil, Tallow, Resin, Alcohol, and, Generally, of Everything Connected with Lighting. In The bastiat collection (pp. 227–232). essay, Ludwig von Mises Institute.
- Bastiat Frédéric. (2011). Government. In The bastiat collection (pp. 95–107). essay, Ludwig von Mises Institute.
- Bastiat Frédéric. (2011). The Law. In The bastiat collection (pp. 49–94). essay, Ludwig von Mises Institute.
Header 1
I agree with this statement. If France were to continue to produce all of their own light sources, they would not be able to keep up with other countries and their advancements. For example, France must import coal, which is a very important resource in the light industry. There is an abundance of benefits to importing goods from other countries, such as: receiving products you would not have access to otherwise, manufacturing costs will decrease, efficiency, and even creating alliances. It would be nearly impossible to continue to make improvements without the use of coal. By relying solely on candles for light, France would be limiting itself. You also stated that by doing this, France would need to bring in more sheep which would deplete the soil of all nutrients because of their grazing, I believe you are correct. France would need a very large sum of sheep to keep up with the candle demand. The pastures and valleys would no longer be viable for planting crops, building homes, or even building factories and businesses. As I stated previously, trading and importing goods from other countries could lead to an alliance. Blocking trade would make this extremely difficult.
I think this is a very interesting point that could tie into trading and exporting and importing goods. I do agree that the system relies on loyalty and power a little too much. The justice system in the United States is absolutely broken. Money and power play a huge role in this. Criminals get off unscathed while victims do not receive answers or justice of any kind, strictly because the criminal knows someone influential, or they have money to make the problem go away. The government has too much control. With a smaller, less involved government, the justice system would be more fair. Trading, exporting, and importing would be easier as well. Most likely, there would be less internal issues in each country which could potentially lead to less external issues as well. Overall, looking at the our government officials backgrounds, their decisions on how to run our country, and how to keep up with an everchanging economy, it is easy to come to the conclusion that the government has too much power over our individual rights.
"In Petition, I like how he warns of the dangers of continuing to rely so heavily on candles for light because to produce more you have to bring in more sheep which will scalp the land and then they would have to kill more whales which I think is horrible for the simple act of producing light." I like this as your opener it set a very different tone than the other essay I had. I agree us as mankind have done horrible things to get stuff we believe we need or want in this world. We are selfish always have been always will be. The first thing we did on earth was eat an apple right after we are told we weren't supposed too. Every since that day we have been wired to make those decisions. Even, if you have other beliefs the same thing has happened. Everyone is selfish and we all know that even with in ourselves. I love your third paragraph. He is very aggressive and passionate during this part and you can see that. It combines the the greed and our government which I thought was very well used. When you give mankind power they go wild with it. Same in our government, especially when one side stacks. One side gets to choose everything and the other has no say. It shows how when one or a group get power they do whatever they so please to do with it. It shows he was scared of that and already saw that change coming. At the end of the paragraph you talk about how they will bend ot for their personal will. We have had that problem for awhile now. It has become making laws or bending laws for own personal gain. Even doing events or other things to try and get recognition for own personal benefit. I think you do great at the end with in a way summing it all up and just using you ropion on it. Also with doing that in a small paragraph. It lets the readers form their own opions and then at the end hear yours and they can agree, disagree or even mix and match between these.