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The Enormous Power of Government
As long as these ideas prevail, it is clear that the responsi-
bility of government is enormous. Good fortune and bad for-
tune, wealth and destitution, equality and inequality, virtue and
vice—all then depend upon political administration. It is bur-
dened with everything, it undertakes everything, it does every-
thing; therefore it is responsible for everything.
If we are fortunate, then government has a claim to our
gratitude; but if we are unfortunate, then government must bear
the blame. For are not our persons and property now at the dis-
posal of government? Is not the law omnipotent?
In creating a monopoly of education, the government must
answer to the hopes of the fathers of families who have thus
been deprived of their liberty; and if these hopes are shattered,
whose fault is it?
In regulating industry, the government has contracted to
make it prosper; otherwise it is absurd to deprive industry of its
liberty. And if industry now suffers, whose fault is it?
In meddling with the balance of trade by playing with tar-
iffs, the government thereby contracts to make trade prosper;
and if this results in destruction instead of prosperity, whose
fault is it?
In giving the maritime industries protection in exchange for
their liberty, the government undertakes to make them prof-
itable; and if they become a burden to the taxpayers, whose fault
is it?
Thus there is not a grievance in the nation for which the
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government does not voluntarily make itself responsible. Is it
surprising, then, that every failure increases the threat of
another revolution in France?
And what remedy is proposed for this? To extend indefi-
nitely the domain of the law; that is, the responsibility of gov-
ernment.
But if the government undertakes to control and to raise
wages, and cannot do it; if the government undertakes to care
for all who may be in want, and cannot do it; if the government
undertakes to support all unemployed workers, and cannot do it;
if the government undertakes to lend interest-free money to all
borrowers, and cannot do it; if, in these words that we regret to
say escaped from the pen of Mr. de Lamartine, “The state con-
siders that its purpose is to enlighten, to develop, to enlarge, to
strengthen, to spiritualize, and to sanctify the soul of the peo-
ple”—and if the government cannot do all of these things, what
then? Is it not certain that after every government failure—
which, alas! is more than probable—there will be an equally
inevitable revolution?
Politics and Economics
[Now let us return to a subject that was briefly discussed in
the opening pages of this thesis: the relationship of economics
and of politics—political economy.*]
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*Translator’s note: Mr. Bastiat has devoted three other books and several
articles to the development of the ideas contained in the three sentences of the
following paragraph.
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A science of economics must be developed before a science
of politics can be logically formulated. Essentially, economics is
the science of determining whether the interests of human
beings are harmonious or antagonistic. This must be known
before a science of politics can be formulated to determine the
proper functions of government.
Immediately following the development of a science of
economics, and at the very beginning of the formulation of a sci-
ence of politics, this all-important question must be answered:
What is law? What ought it to be? What is its scope; its limits?
Logically, at what point do the just powers of the legislator stop?
I do not hesitate to answer: Law is the common force orga-
nized to act as an obstacle to injustice. In short, law is justice.
Proper Legislative Functions
It is not true that the legislator has absolute power over our
persons and property. The existence of persons and property
preceded the existence of the legislator, and his function is only
to guarantee their safety.
It is not true that the function of law is to regulate our con-
sciences, our ideas, our wills, our education, our opinions, our
work, our trade, our talents, or our pleasures. The function of
law is to protect the free exercise of these rights, and to prevent
any person from interfering with the free exercise of these same
rights by any other person.
Since law necessarily requires the support of force, its law-
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ful domain is only in the areas where the use of force is neces-
sary. This is justice.
Every individual has the right to use force for lawful self-
defense. It is for this reason that the collective force—which is
only the organized combination of the individual forces—may
lawfully be used for the same purpose; and it cannot be used
legitimately for any other purpose.
Law is solely the organization of the individual right of self-
defense which existed before law was formalized. Law is justice.
Law and Charity Are Not the Same
The mission of the law is not to oppress persons and plun-
der them of their property, even though the law may be acting in
a philanthropic spirit. Its mission is to protect persons and prop-
erty.
Furthermore, it must not be said that the law may be phil-
anthropic if, in the process, it refrains from oppressing persons
and plundering them of their property; this would be a contra-
diction. The law cannot avoid having an effect upon persons and
property; and if the law acts in any manner except to protect
them, its actions then necessarily violate the liberty of persons
and their right to own property.
The law is justice—simple and clear, precise and bounded.
Every eye can see it, and every mind can grasp it; for justice is
measurable, immutable, and unchangeable. Justice is neither
more than this nor less than this. 
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