I miss having the time to read that I had years ago. Sometime in my thirties I switched from preferring fiction to non, and I must admit the first book you mention, The Law by Fredrick Bastiat intrigued me enough I now have to read it. Due to being out of copyright, I was able to get a free copy just now from the Mises Institute on PDF. I have to imagine that Amazon offers it for free on Kindle as well.
Thanks for mentioning it in your post. I have never heard of him, but aligns well with my ideas based on what you have said.
I was first introduced to it by a man who I met when I was campaigning for a local political office. I was so intrigued by the book, I read it multiple times. I am now re-reading in preparation for an essay I want to write. I agree with Bastiat's thoughts on what a government should actually be doing rather than what they think they should be doing. It resonates with me.
I'd love to hear your thoughts after reading it.
Thanks, I will reach out when done. I am not sure what the etiquette is here. Would it be ok to post it back here so as not to disrupt your future posts?
Absolutely--either way is fine with me.
I am maybe a quarter of the way in, or just a little shy of that. Several thoughts have already come to me, some of it bringing up my doubts on democracy. He mentioned universal suffrage, and how the power plays out. It has been one of my concerns over the years, more so as I have watched the country slide into insanity, that democracy is a tool used by the human farmers to give an illusion of freedom while moving the masses with carrots and slogans against those whose chips are targeted at the moment. They will offer a small slice of it to this group or that group while using the masses to pummel down any who protest (right now this is the social justice warrior movement). In times past it was used more as a patriotic theme.
I find that in some ways he was prophetic although I don't know if he lived long enough to realize it. His sense of unease regarding slavery and tariffs was one that shows he was sensitive to where these developments could go. Written not long after Manifest Destiny coupled with the land grab from the natives, I have to wonder if he saw that a government willing to do that could just as easily turn one day on its own citizens and do the same. His sense of praise for the U.S. as a model for securing individual property was an inaccurate one in my opinion, although I agree with him that should be the primary duty of a great government.
I will admit that despite my conservative libertarian leanings, I have my doubts as to the wisdom of a country not enacting tariffs on other countries when they undermine the nations ability to put their people to work. I can recall back to when Pat Buchanon was running against the elder Bush. One of his platforms were tariffs to stop Japan from dumping their product here at a loss to put our companies under. I just had to laugh that back then it was Japan and not China everyone was concerned with. Anyway, he was ridiculed for being a protectionist, laughed at for seeking to "isolate" the U.S. from the world.
I am of the opinion that as long as the wolves surround us, there must be some form of protection offered by the government that ensures the welfare of the citizen is held in a higher esteem than those outside of the nation.
It is an interesting read, one provoking many thoughts I have had fall off as I disconnected almost a year ago from cable TV. I look forward to reading more on it as it raises the questions in my mind I slowed down a lot over the years.