French Government in the 1800s
In The Bastiat Collection, Claude Frederic Bastiat writes his opinion and views on the French government throughout the 1800s. During this time period, he expresses that many citizens were not content with how the government was controlling them and the laws that were put into place. Three main chapters in his book focus on how the law should be established, government should be run, and how labor should be appreciated.
The Law
In order for citizens in a society to remain safe, laws are created and enforced to promote well-being throughout daily living. Bastiat further explains that some laws are good for most citizens. He explains that one of these good self-laws when he says,
“... it is the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense” (Bastiat, 2011, p. 50).
This definition of law provides the security of individual’s rights along with the right to defend themselves within the law. However, the law cannot accommodate everyone’s individual opinions about what is good for themselves. Bastiat (2011, pp. 61-62) expresses that the law will do one of three things, upset some, upset everyone, or manage to keep everyone content. Ideally, the law should keep everyone content, but it is nearly impossible to achieve because of all the differing opinions. Bastiat goes onto use the analogy,
“A citizen cannot at the same time be free and not free” (Bastiat, 2011, p. 62).
This analogy refers to the fact that there is not an in between when establishing the law.
The law may appear unjust to some, but overall organized justice within the law will satisfy most. Bastiat states,
“I have no hesitation in answering, Law is a common force organized to prevent injustice—in short, Law is Justice” (Bastiat, 2011, p. 89).
With the law established and justice served within it, individuals in society must remain content in following these laws. It is also stated that,
“No society can exist unless the laws are respected to a certain degree, but the safest way to make them respected is to make them respectable” (Bastiat, 2011, p. 54).
As long as the law is reasonable for all to follow and respects individual's rights, each person should be content. Bastiat (2011, p. 84) describes liberty as being power imposed by the government and controlled by society. Without the government’s power in establishing laws for individuals to follow, internal wars would arise. Law plays a major role in the world and without it, society would suffer and become unsafe for basic living.
The Government
As discussed above, laws are created for society to keep people safe, and without the government in place to enforce the laws, as well as ensure equality, then the communities would end up in chaos. Bastiat defines government,
“As it is certain, on the one hand, that we are all making some similar request to the Government; and as, on the other, it is proved that Government cannot satisfy one party without adding to the labor of the others, until I can obtain another definition of the word Government, I feel authorized to give my own. Who knows but it may obtain the prize? Here it is: Government is that great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else” (Bastiat c, 2011, p. 99).
This quote shows that the government was established to do what’s best for the citizens, but it is unable to make everyone happy, so what was created for the safety of the people is considered annoying to the people. Furthermore, Bastiat expresses that the government often deceives society. He believes that the people in charge of running the government do not always choose things that would be best for society, and mostly they enjoy using their power to control individuals within their regions.
Generally, individuals in society typically think that they would be able to do a better job than the person that is in control. However, it is proven that running the government is not as easy as it seems. Bastiat states that,
“Thus, the public has two hopes, and Government makes two promises—many benefits and no taxes. Hopes and promises that, being contradictory, can never be realized” (Bastiat, 2011, p. 102).
This quote shows that the government makes promises on things that they want to enforce, but they cannot accomplish. And the benefits they speak about also do not come on their own, and they surely do not come without a cost.
The Labor
And lastly, Bastiat explains that everything comes at a cost. Whether the purpose of a business is to provide a service or sell a product, it is going to require the labor of others to produce something, deliver something, or even require the sacrifice of one manufacturer over another. Nothing ever seems to truly be a gift from someone or something. Bastiat states that,
“The part nature executes is always gratuitous; it is the part executed by human labor that constitutes value, and is paid for” (Bastiat, 2011, p. 231).
Nature comes without cost, but individuals do not seem to appreciate it as much as something that requires labor to create and needs to be paid for. Bastiat petitions that no one should be paying for items like candles, wax lights, and lamps when we are able to get light from nature at no cost. Proving his point, he continues to say that individuals tend to only be truly grateful for things that need someone else to produce with labor and a cost, rather than gifts that are given freely without labor or cost.
Conclusion
Just like in the 1800s, our society today requires individuals to follow the laws that have been established. Even though we may not have the same opinions as the government and do not want to follow some of the laws that have been set for us, we still go abide by the rules, feel safe in our daily lives and are for the most part content with our society. We also see in politics today, that most people still believe for the most part that government enforcement is necessary although political views and opinions vary greatly, and many think their government is deceitful. Big business is still out to make money, using people for labor production and unless people live off the land, society pays a price for most everything. So, while we have progressed since the 1800s, people have not changed. We still fight for our opinions, think we can do better than others, and are ungrateful for the things that come without a cost.
Works Cited
Bastiat Frédéric. (2011). Government. In The bastiat collection (pp. 95–107). essay, Ludwig von Mises Institute.
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). The Law. In The bastiat collection (pp. 49–94). essay, Ludwig von Mises Institute.
This was a good read and a nice essay. It concisely summarized the main beats of the readings while keeping a good pace and cadence. It is obvious that you spent a lot of time on this.
However, I found it a bit lacking when it came to the reflection of the reading. Bastiat says a lot, obnoxiously so and there is only a paragraph of opinion. I am going to list what I found I strong about the essay and moments where a bit more opinion could have been used.
Your ability to concisely summarized the pages of reading into a few sentences is genuinely impressive. I found the law and government summaries really easy to read. I did not feel as though you were excluding important information. Throughout the essay you consistently bring Bastiat’s long-winded critiques into nice bite sized sentences to effortlessly read.
In particular, I found the introduction of the reading and the use of shorter quotes interspersed to help break up the summarization enjoyable and well done. Speaking of quotes, I have two I picked out,
Are two examples where I believe some more opinions could have been expressed. A short sentence on what you think about what Bastiat is expressing. Would society suffer and become unsafe? Do the people in power mostly enjoy using their power to control individuals? Even if you agree or disagree with him.
I bring this suggestion up because I honestly do not have an agreement or disagreement with your essay. The conclusion ended up being more of a reflection on the reading from a modern-day perspective without much opinion. So, I suppose, I would agree if I had to pick.
I agree with everything here; I just do not really see where I could even disagree. It ends up being a recontextualization of Bastiat’s statements. I am sure you will have more to say about the readings if you look at them from a more personal perspective. Using a few short opinions throughout the essay could help you set up a major point in your conclusion.
Good read! You are vastly better at making a summary concise than me!
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