Today, June 30th, is the 209th birth anniversary of Frederic Bastiat, arguably the greatest economic journalist that ever lived. His writings continue to enthrall us today. I have compiled a collection of his essays that I recommend to all citizens - for Bastiat wrote for the common man, the man on the street. This collection can be downloaded for free here. The first essay is "To the Youth." The second essay contrasts the "natural order" of Liberty with the "artificial order" of State controls. The collection also includes his famous "The Law" - a powerful defence of Private Property, which concludes with these words:
"And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works."
Bastiat was a devout Catholic, and his belief in Liberty was a fundamental part of his religious outlook. To him, the "invisible hand" was the hand of God. "To believe in Liberty is to have faith in God, and in His greatest creation, Man," he said.
Bastiat was certainly no worshipper of The State. In a short, humourous essay on this Beast - also included in the above collection - he defined The State thus:
The State is that grand fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.
Think deep about this: What do the personnel of our The State do in the sense of "work"? What does Manmohan do? Or Rahul Gandhi? What are their various schemes to help the poor but schemes by which millions are encouraged to live off others? Obviously, if we abolish this The State and revert to the "natural order" then everyone will have to "produce" and "exchange" in order to survive. They would all have to "serve the people" - viz., their customers.
Thus, "consumer sovereignty" matters more to "social order" than the vote. If the idea is to see that all people are engaged in "good behaviour" then consumer sovereignty holds the key. With the vote all we get is The State - that "grand fiction by which everyone tries to live off everyone else."
Download and read my The Essential Frederic Bastiat by clicking here.
Long live the memory of Frederic Bastiat!
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