The people who, during the election, were so wise, so moral, so perfect, now have no tendencies whatever; … - Frederic Bastiat

Same topic Authors

Quote of the day

One of the first bills I helped passed was the Shore Protection Fund, which provides a stable source of funding for shore protection, something very important for Monmouth County and the entire Jersey Shore.

Frederic Bastiat

The people who, during the election, were so wise, so moral, so perfect, now have no tendencies whatever; or if they have any, they are tendencies that lead downward to degradation. . . . If people are as incapable, as immoral, and as ignorant as the politicians indicate, then why is the right of these same people to vote defended with such passionate insistence?

Downward, Insistence, Lead, People, Perfect, Wise

Same Author Quotes

When plunder becomes a way of life, men create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.

Authorizes, Create, Life, Men, Money, Plunder

When misguided public opinion honors what is despicable and despises what is honorable, punishes virtue and rewards vice, encourages what is harmful and discourages what is useful, applauds falsehood and smothers truth under indifference or insult, a nation turns its back on progress and can be restored only by the terrible lessons of catastrophe.

Catastrophe, Honor, Political, Progress, Restored, Vice

Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. . . . It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain

Eat, Ideas, Libertarian Party, Object, Spring, Time

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?

Believe, Good, Natural, People, Race, Safe

The real cost of the State is the prosperity we do not see, the jobs that don’t exist, the technologies to which we do not have access, the businesses that do not come into existence, and the bright future that is stolen from us. The State has looted us just as surely as a robber who enters our home at night and steals all that we love.

Come, Exist, Home, Jobs, Real, Stolen