Either Fraternity Is Spontaneous, Or It Does

The Mission Of The Law Is Not To Oppress Persons And Plunder Them Of Their Property, Even Though The Law May Be Acting In A Philanthropic Spirit. Its Purpose Is To Protect Persons And Property.... If You Exceed This Proper Limit -- If You Attempt To Make The Law Religious, Fraternal, Equalizing, Philanthropic, Industrial, Or Artistic -- You Will Then Be Lost In Uncharted Territory, In Vagueness And Uncertainty, In A Forced Utopia Or, Even Worse, In A Multitude Of Utopias, Each Striving To Seize The Law And Impose It On You.

What, Then Is Law [government]? It Is The Collective Organization Of The Individual Right To Lawful Defense.

It Is Easy To Understand Why The Law Is Used By The Legislator To Destroy In Varying Degrees Among The Rest Of The People, Their Personal Independence By Slavery, Their Liberty By Oppression, And Their Property By Plunder. This Is Done For The Benefit Of The Person Who Makes The Law, And In Proportion To The Power That He Holds.

It Must Be Admitted That The Tendency Of The Human Race Toward Liberty Is Largely Thwarted, Especially In France. This Is Greatly Due To A Fatal Desire-learned From The Teachings Of Antiquity-that Our Writers On Public Affairs Have In Common: They Desire To Set Themselves Above Mankind In Order To Arrange, Organize, And Regulate It According To Their Fancy.

Now Since Man Is Naturally Inclined To Avoid Pain - And Since Labor Is Pain In Itself - It Follows That Men Will Resort To Plunder Whenever Plunder Is Easier Than Work. History Shows This Quite Clearly. And Under These Conditions, Neither Religion Nor Morality Can Stop It. When, Then, Does Plunder Stop? It Stops When It Becomes More Painful And More Dangerous Than Labor. It Is Evident, Then, That The Proper Purpose Of Law Is To Use The Power Of Its Collective Force To Stop This Fatal Tendency To Plunder Instead Of To Work. All The Measures Of The Law Should Protect Property And Punish Plunder.