There Are People Who Think That Plunder

Here I Encounter The Most Popular Fallacy Of Our Times. It Is Not Considered Sufficient That The Law Should Guarantee To Every Citizen The Free And Inoffensive Use Of His Faculties For Physical, Intellectual And Moral Self-improvement. Instead, It Is Demanded That The Law Should Directly Extend Welfare, Education, And Morality Throughout The Nation. This Is The Seductive Lure Of Socialism. And I Repeat: These Two Uses Of The Law Are In Direct Contradiction To Each Other.

Legal Plunder Can Be Committed In An Infinite Number Of Ways; Hence, There Are An Infinite Number Of Plans For Organizing It: Tariffs, Protection, Bonuses, Subsidies, Incentives, The Progressive Income Tax, Free Education, The Right To Employment, The Right To Profit, The Right To Wages, The Right To Relief, The Right To The Tools Of Production, Interest Free Credit, Etc., Etc. And It The Aggregate Of All These Plans, In Respect To What They Have In Common, Legal Plunder, That Goes Under The Name Of Socialism.

If Philanthropy Is Not Voluntary, It Destroys Liberty And Justice. The Law Can Give Nothing That Has Not First Been Taken From Its Owner.

In Short, Is Not Liberty The Freedom Of Every Person To Make Full Use Of His Faculties, So Long As He Does Not Harm Other Persons While Doing So?

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.