The Plans Differ; The Planners Are All

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.

Sometimes The Law Defends Plunder And Participates In It. Sometimes The Law Places The Whole Apparatus Of Judges, Police, Prisons And Gendarmes At The Service Of The Plunderers, And Treats The Victim - When He Defends Himself - As A Criminal.

We Cannot Doubt That Self-interest Is The Mainspring Of Human Nature. It Must Be Clearly Understood That This Word Is Used Here To Designate A Universal, Incontestable Fact, Resulting From The Nature Of Man, And Not An Adverse Judgment, As Would Be The Word Selfishness.

Each Of Us Has A Natural Right, From God, To Defend His Person, His Liberty, And His Property.

Finally, Is Not Liberty The Restricting Of The Law Only To Its Rational Sphere Of Organizing The Right Of The Individual To Lawful Self-defense; Of Punishing Injustice?