Introduction
Frederic Bastiat wrote his essay on government a few months after the French Revolution. The constitutional monarchy was recently overthrown, and a new republic was now in place. These times were obviously very tumultuous, and the new republic struggled to define government well especially because the people had strong, loud opinions of what the government should be expected to do. Another historical note is that the Reign of Terror occurred a few years after these essays had been written. Therefore, the role of the government, seen as a paternal figure, was never truly established and protected the natural rights of its people effectively. Bastiat likely noticed during these times, and it led him to write these essays. In short, I plan to reflect and analyze Bastiat’s the Government, the Law, and the Petition essays to discuss and think about what the role of these man-made entities should look like.
The Government
Bastiat begins this essay by defining the government as a mysterious personage where there are unrealistic expectations to solve the evils and sufferings of the entire country. However, to do this the government requires resources and these resources primarily occur from taxation which is also seen as an evil. According to Bastiat the government is where everyone strives to live at the expense of others. The government can take your money through taxation, and it does not equally distribute and give back to its people. Therefore, the government cannot realistically promise to give both many benefits and no taxation. This requires us to think about the role we wish the government to play in our lives and in our society. The more taxes we pay, the more welfare and philanthropic systems we can expect our government to provide. However, how effective are these systems? Will they provide an equitable amount of service? Can we expect the government to bail us out on our hardships through the welfare systems? The unfortunate reality that Bastiat notes, is that the government cannot equally provide for the wants and needs of each of its citizens. Also, how much control or authority would we need to invest in the government for them to attempt to provide for these wants and needs? The government can be very effective at providing for its people, but it can also take and not distribute efficiently or effectively. The government is not made up of perfect, servant hearted people and as a citizen we need to be on our guard for government officials attempting to use our money and resources to benefit these officials and their corrupt ideals rather than the good of the country. Essentially, Bastiat’s essay gives many reflection points on how we as citizens think of the role of our government and ultimately leaves us with the question of is the government the best provider of philanthropic and welfare efforts.
The Law
This essay highlights the importance of natural rights and how the law can both support and hurt our rights. To Bastiat, natural rights are life, liberty, and property which are from God and precede all legislature made from humans. The nature of law is to maintain justice, but it can easily pervert it. Bastiat argues that the role of the law is to support and enforce all natural rights and prevent illegal and lawful plunder, but it fails this role. If the law was restricted to its proper function, then everyone’s interest in the law would be the same and legal plunder would not exist. Legal plunder is when citizens use the law to promote or justify their own human greed, false philanthropy, and more.I again believe the role of the law depends heavily on the role of the government. Laws can have good intentions but can be easily twisted to violate our natural rights. This argument leads us to two questions. How big of a role should the government play in our personal lives and what are our protected rights? I believe a good system of government requires a set number of protected, natural rights. On the other hand, these laws must be made to guard against legal plunder like human greed and corruption as well as safeguard our rights. Do the laws of our nation do that? The systems of law play an important role in any government but we must be careful how much power we give these laws.
The Candlemakers' Petition
Bastiat’s essay over foreign competitors uses the candlelight, tallow, and streetlamp industry as an example of the idiocy of banning foreign goods for a domestic product. In this essay, he directly compares the candlelight industry to natural light. He claims restricting or even banning natural light would lead to improved prosperity for all involved in the industry, thereby improving the country. Although restricting imports might bring profits up, it does bring a net negative to society which he highlights in this essay. It would be ridiculous to ban or restrict natural light just as it would be ridiculous to ban foreign competitors. These competitors drive innovation and competition which ultimately help society. While it might seem easy and profitable for the country to ban or restrict foreign goods, Bastiat warns against this idea of thinking. In short, foreign goods are needed to drive innovation and prices in the economy therefore it would be a terrible idea that Bastiat warns against.
Conclusion
Bastiat had many critical ideas about the role of the government, laws, and petitions played in the government which he recorded in these essays. While many of his ideas have merit, they are extreme reflecting the time he lived in. These essays reveal the unrealistic goals we can sometimes push on our governments, the ways the laws can cause injustice and hurt our natural rights, and the ways petitions like banning specific foreign goods can hurt society. His work gives us ideas to think and reflect on within our own society, however we must be cautious because our social context differs very much from his.