“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.”
“Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state lives at the expense of everyone.”
Now, legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways. Thus we have an infinite number of plans for organizing it: tariffs, protection, benefits, subsidies, encouragements, progressive taxation, public schools, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed profits, minimum wages, a right to relief, a right to the tools of labor, free credit, and so on, and so on.”
“The politician attempts to remedy the evil by increasing the very thing that caused the evil in the first place: legal plunder.”
His book is a good read.
Books. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bastiat&ref=nb_sb_noss_1
The last good Frenchman. Lol! The Law is an old favorite for sure.
And How many of your fellow citizens have even heard of this person?
Probably more than have heard of Lysander Spooner: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=lysander+spooner&ref=nb_sb_noss