Frédéric Bastiat: Difference between revisions

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'''Claude-Frédéric Bastiat''' (30 June, 1801 &ndash; 24 December 1850) was a French [[classical liberalism|classical liberal]] author and political economist.

Bastiat was born in Bayonne, Aquitaine, France. His public career as an economist began only in 1844, and was cut short by his untimely death in 1850. Bastiat had caught tuberculosis, probably during his tours throughout France to promote libertarian ideas, and that illness eventually prevented him from making further speeches (particularly at the legislative assembly to which he was elected in 1848 and 1849) and took his life. Frédéric Bastiat died in Rome, Italy on 24 December 1850.  Bastiat declared on his death bed that his friend Gustave de Molinari (publisher of Bastiat's masterpiece [[The Law]] in 1849) was his spiritual heir.  

Bastiat can be said to be of the "Harmonic" school of libertarians, who consider utilitarian and natural law arguments as two complementary aspects of a same world. Bastiat did not take part in the [[anarchism|anarchist]]-[[minarchism|minarchist]] debate (he arguably died too early for that); he seems to have considered the State as something inevitable as far as immediate practical matter &mdash; something that ought to be taken into account as long as it existed. He also explicitly deplored violent revolution as a way to get rid of governments (a view no doubt influenced by the horrors of the Jacobins and the trials of the French Revolution). However, like all classical liberals, Bastiat maintained a deep distrust of all government, in any form, and worked all his life to demonstrate that government control of private individuals and regulation of private industry is inefficient, economically damaging, and morally wrong.

Bastiat was the author of many works on economics and political economy, generally characterized by their clear organization, forceful argument and acerbic wit.  Among his most well known works is ''[[Economic Fallacies]],'' which contains many trenchant attacks on [[statism|statist]] (''i.e.'' "progressive") policies.  Bastiat wrote it while living in England in an attempt to advise the shapers of the French Republic on pitfalls to avoid.   

Contained within ''Economic Fallacies'' is the famous [[satire|satirical]] episode best known as the "[[Candlemakers' Petition]]" which presents itself as a demand from the candlemakers' guild to the French government, asking the government to block out the Sun to prevent its unfair competition with their products.  Much like Jonathan Swift's ''A Modest Proposal'' or [[Benjamin Franklin]]'s anti-slavery works, Bastiat's argument cleverly highlights the basic flaws in state-support of industry by demonstrating its absurdity when carried to a logical extreme.   

Bastiat's most famous work, however, is undoubtedly [[The Law]], originally published as a pamphlet in 1850.  It deals with the issues underlying the development of a just and free system of laws, and how such laws should be applied in a free society.

* "If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?" &mdash; from ''The Law''

* "When under the pretext of fraternity, the legal code imposes mutual sacrifices on the citizens, human nature is not thereby abrogated. Everyone will then direct his efforts toward contributing little to, and taking much from, the common fund of sacrifices. Now, is it the most unfortunate who gains from this struggle? Certainly not, but rather the most influential and calculating." &mdash; from ''The Law''