Claude Frédéric BastiatRezensionen

I a must read for every man wanting to be a productive member of the Kingdom.

A selection of articles that show how well hidden some of the modern fallacies are ... and we've grown up to believe them - so much that we don't even question them!

Drawn from the THE CLASSIC WORK OF FREDERICK BASTIAT, 'THE LAW". THIS OUGHT TO BE READ IN CONJUCTION WIT "THE LAW"
I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMEND THE READING OF BASTIAT WORK FIRST!

De todos os pensadores liberais, o deputado, jornalista e economista francês Fréderic Bastiat (1801-1850) é um dos mais antigos e com certeza um dos mais brilhantes. Bastiat escreveu "A Lei" como contraponto aos excessos socialistas em que a França estava caindo naquela época. Como muita gente aqui no Brasil, em pleno século 21, os franceses de sua época ainda acreditavam que o governo deve ser responsável por tudo o que diz respeito aos seus cidadãos, inclusive a restrição à liberdade com base na força da lei. Os argumentos de Bastiat contra essa ingênua ideia são tão relevantes para a Brasil hoje quanto foram para a França em seu tempo. O ebook "A Lei" é um grito de liberdade que todo brasileiro deveria ler.

Este livro foi escrito num período da história quando algumas das mais proeminentes nações do mundo experimentavam visões de governos próximas às socialistas, que na teoria prometiam igualdade e prosperidade, mas, na prática, resultaram no exato oposto. Como essas visões ainda acalentam o sonho de muitas pessoas, tal análise continua tão pertinente como foi há 166 anos.
Frédéric Bastiat conseguiu antever, quase como um profeta – quando Marx apenas divulgava o que seriam as bases de O Capital –, toda a sorte de equívocos que aquelas visões carregavam e criou esse manifesto para desmascarar aqueles que defendem a ideia de dar mais poder ao Estado: os intervencionistas, os planejadores, os protecionistas e os socialistas.
A Lei – Porque a esquerda não funciona, traz uma reflexão prática sobre ideias de filósofos e outros pensadores acerca da política e da vida em sociedade, dentre eles John Locke e Adam Smith, e trata de temas como liberdade, direitos à propriedade, espoliação, igualdade, livre iniciativa, impostos, democracia, sufrágio universal, autoritarismo e tantos outros que, passados quase dois séculos, ainda provocam debates acalorados.
Desde quando seu livro foi publicado, em 1850, os planejadores e os socialistas vieram a controlar cerca da metade do mundo, o que resultou não apenas em opressão e miséria como previsto por Bastiat, mas na morte de mais de cem milhões de seres humanos*; por outro lado, os países que se tornaram ricos foram aqueles que mais apostaram na liberdade.
Este livro teve o melhor destino que um livro teórico pode alcançar: a prática provou que estava certo, em um grau muito maior do que seu autor poderia imaginar.
É impossível, com tantos dados e tentativas práticas, negar as qualidades bastante superiores do caminho liberal na promoção da riqueza, da dignidade e do bem-estar. A Lei é o melhor caminho para começar a compreender isso.

Summary: Small government is good government. I mean really small. You should pretty much trust individual people and groups unregulated by law to take care of most of the stuff the current Australian Government does on our/their behalf.

Things I liked:

Interesting argument

Plenty of examples/quotes

Amusing, kind of sarcastic style.

Things I thought could be improved:

Could have spent more time identifying and engaging opposing ideas.

Probably would have been good to to acknowledge some weaknesses in his arguments or unanswered questions requiring further investigation (he came off as a bit of know it all).

Highlight:

Probably the bit where he says our mistake isn't in admiring the leaders in the past, its in thinking we can't do any better.

Spouses' textbook

Although obviously dated (first published in 1849), this pamphlet mentions more key ideas of liberalism than I was expecting, and uses some terms that surprised me a bit.

For example, I wasn't expecting to read such a scathing critique of “socialism”. Or to find such a clear definition of the State and of State force as necessarily limited to protecting the (pre-existent, natural) rights of individuals (“personality, freedom, and property”) and to prevent injustice, rather than actively pursuing justice. It's a very clear defence of private property, individual projects of life and personal initiative, and an attack on redistribution, tariffs, subsidies, and an ever-expanding government that meddles with every aspect of life. Definitely, I was not expecting to find the word “communism” in the text!

I guess I had my historical timing wrong. For example, I had forgot that [b:The Communist Manifesto|30474|The Communist Manifesto|Karl Marx|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565912767l/30474._SY75_.jpg|2205479] was published just months before (in 1848), so there is that. Also, and according to a very quick search on Wikipedia, terms such as “socialism” are much older than I thought.

Overall an interesting read, if nothing else because it is enlightening to learn how many of “modern” dilemmas in economics, political philosophy, and contingent politics, were current 170 years ago, or even before that.

A great argument from a French classical liberal (modern libertarian) philosopher of the early 1800s about which matters are proper for the law and state to speak on (defense of life, liberty, and property) and are improper (socialism and resource redistribution.)

An amazing book! Almost every sentence rings true, and you want to highlight the whole book.

At some points there are a lot of detail on specific persons and ideas in post revolutionary France, but in general the whole book is applicable for all people and all times.
A must read!

It's more of an attack on the positions of the author's contemporaries than a reasoned argument for principle. I was hoping for the reasoned argument, but it was full of denouncements and sensational phrasing. It made a few good points, and even made some of them well, but it did not live up to expectations. I hope [b:Harmonies of Political Economy|21462181|Harmonies of Political Economy (Illustrated)|Frédéric Bastiat|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394828000l/21462181._SX50_.jpg|1681384] turns out to be better when I get around to it.

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14005321

A great book for the super edgy, white straight men in your life, who believe taxes to fund social safety nets and public schools (one of Bastiat's bête noires) are theft. They will especially love it if they, like Bastiat, hint at the idea that restricting the right to vote would be preferable to letting their political opponents win.

The main weakness of this book is that Bastiat does not sufficiently analyze the meaning of property; this is despite the fact that Bastiat makes the preservation of property the sole purpose of the law. The result is that Bastiat fails to anticipate arguments for socialism that are based on the nature of property.

That said, Bastiat does well to criticize that species of statism that regards human beings as so much clay to be molded in the hands of the legislator. On this head, Bastiat's arguments are effective, passionate, and humane.½

Read it!!!
All Ages, it's never too early, but if we wait it could be too late!

a Must read.

Disappointing. Bastiat has a rare reputation as an economist who could write in clear language. While the First Series of his Sophisms contains some fantastic writing, the Second Series is surprisingly dull with some horribly laboured and long winded stuff. The work is also let down by its uncompromising embrace of the discredited at the time Labour Theory of Value.

Filled to the brim with bright wonderful words. Bastiat is a shining example to all ages. Sets the thinking gears in motion on what are laws, and why do they eist, and what is our relation to them.

Ce texte est un condensé de la philosophie libérale. Rédigé de manière claire par un des grands libéraux français du 19e siècle, il expose les fondements du droit et de l'économie dans une société juste. Ce livre contient la version originale intégrale en français de ce texte fondateur, qui est aussi une sorte de testament de l'auteur, décédé peu après sa rédaction.

I was greatly greatly disappointed by this audio book. Like most writings of the 19th century I have read lately, this one was clearly written for an audience with a much larger attention span, and much more educated than the average 21st century American. I felt like Bastiat kept repeating the same thing over and over again. I'm not sure how much of this is true, and how much of this was the fact that I learned this particular MP3 CD exposed a bug in the radio in my VW. At one point, I learned, that my CD starts over at 27 minutes into the track regardless of where it left off. However, the fact it took several ignition cycles for me to figure this out indicates how uninteresting this book was. I had high hopes, I had friends indicate to me that this was the great Catholic Anarchinst novel. Bastiat i wouldn't take to be an anarchist after "reading" this and although he may be a Catholic, he didn't seem to be much of one either. I can some up this whole book as, the law is only valid if it protects individual rights, that what ever other libertarian says, nothing "new" here.

One of the fundamental 19th century texts for understanding why communism and socialism are total failures and wholly and irretrievably immoral in application. Bastiat describes the basis for stable government, and explains why liberty is tied to theological, economic, and political ideas.

First published as a tract against socialism by a Frenchman serving as a Deputy in the Legislative Assembly. He attacks socialist fallacies. With his own. He begins by announcing that the law is "perverted" and is now in service to greed. He turns to solutions by turning to God....

A classic view of politics. This is another book that our current politicians should read carefully. Bastiat was absolutely correct when he said that "Law is justice" and that its primary purpose should be protect rights and not to dictate actions.

Ha a gazdaságpolitikát csak az elõre látható hatások alapján elemezzük, nemcsak egy megvalósítható rendre teszünk szert, hanem kioltjuk a szabadságot, s megakadályozzuk, hogy további jó származzon a döntések miatt. A szabadság pedig fontos az egyének számára, hogy a csak általuk ismert körülményekbõl a legjobbat kihozzák. Tehát soha nem tudhatjuk, hogy milyen pozitív cselekvést akadályozunk meg azáltal, hogy korlátozzuk az egyén szabadságát, hogy az általuk jónak ítélt módon szolgálják embertársaikat. Azonban mindenfajta beavatkozás korlátozással jár. Minden korlátozásnak természetesen van valami meghatározott célja. Minden egyes esetben látni fogjuk, hogy a kormány döntéseinek közvetlen és látható eredményeit kiegyensúlyozhatják olyan egyéni döntések, amelyeket megakadályoztak. Következésképp, ha az emberek nem dönthetnek szabadon, mert döntéseikben a kormány megakadályozza õket, nem beszélhetünk szabadságról. Bastiat-nak igaza volt abban, hogy a döntés szabadságát erkölcsi alapnak tartotta, amelyet semmi esetre sem szabad az opportunizmus oltárán feláldozni. Valószínûleg azért, mert a szabadságnak nincs olyan eleme, amit ne törölnének el, ha csak akkor vennénk õket figyelembe, amikor rámutathatunk a konkrét kárra, amit az eltörlés okozhat.

Friedrich von Hayek

A must read for anyone interested in politics (isn't that everyone these days?) Actually I listened it today whilst doing a mammoth ironing section having downloaded it for free from mises.org. A very insightful, thought-provoking book about the "rightful" role of government. As you might expect he comes from the lassez-faire school and gives good arguments as to why government should be small. Written in 1850, fore-runner to Austrian school of economics.