Frederic Bastiat

Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) was a French classical economist, statesman, and author. He did most of his writing during the years before and after the Revolution of February 1848. This was the period when France was rapidly turning to complete socialism. As a Deputy to the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Bastiat was studying and explaining each socialist fallacy as it appeared. And he explained how socialism must inevitably degenerate into communism. But most of his countrymen chose to ignore his logic. The fight against socialism drained Bastiat's already fading energy, and by 1850--a mere six years alter his first published article and only two since his election to the National Assembly--he was on his deathbed. But far from being a flash in the pan, Bastiat's influence reached well beyond his own sphere. Jodie Gilmore, a free glance writer for "The New American," says that Bastiat's seven volumes of work (all eminently readable) and his ideas on freedom are as applicable today as they were two centuries ago. The present threat of not just a national dictator, but a global cadre of dictators, under the auspices of the United Nations, should give us pause. We would do well to listen to Bastiat and apply his principles to our own government, before we lose our freedom.

"The Law," a book presents the situation when France was being seduced by the false promises of socialism in 1848, Bastiat was concerned with law in the classical sense; he directs his reason to the discovery of the principles of social organization best suited to human beings. The same socialist-communist ideas and plans that were then adopted in France are now sweeping America. Some idea could be create a very long time ago and still can be use today but not many of it...

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"The Law" is a book approaches the purity, power, and nearly poetic quality. Bastiat would be saddened by what America has become. He warned us. He identified the principles indispensable for proper human society and made them accessible to all. In the struggle to end the legalized plunder of statism and to defend individual liberty, how much more could be asked of one man? The collapse of communism, technological innovations, and accompanied by robust free-market organizations promoting Bastiat's ideas, are the most optimistic things we can say about the future of liberty in the United States. Americans share an awesome burden and moral responsibility. A greater familiarity with Bastiat's clear ideas about liberty would be an important step in rekindling respect and love, and allowing the resuscitation of the spirit of liberty among our fellow Americans.