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Your principle has placed these words above the entrance of
the legislative chamber: "Whosoever acquires any influence
here can obtain his share of legal plunder."
And what has been the result? All classes have flung
themselves upon the doors of the chamber, crying: "A share
of the plunder for me, for me!"
After the February Revolution, when universal suffrage was
proclaimed, I hoped for a moment that its great voice would
be heard saying: "No more plunder for anyone. Justice for
everyone." For this is the true solution of the social
problem. But that is not the way things happened;
protectionist propaganda for centuries had too deeply
corrupted men's feelings and ideas.
No; invoking your principle, every class came bursting into
the National Assembly to make of the law an instrument of
plunder. People demanded a progressive income tax, interest-
free credit, the right to employment, the right to relief,
guaranteed interest, a minimum wage, education free of
charge, capital advances to industry, etc., etc. In short,
everyone wanted to live and to develop at the expense of
others.
FREDERIC BASTIAT -- "Plunder and Law"
Freedom Isn't Free. | 
