The strange phenomenon of our times — one which will probably astound our descendants — is the doctrine based on this triple hypothesis: the total in… - Frédéric Bastiat

aquellos que quieren explotar, sin riesgo y sin escrúpulos, la Persona, la Libertad o la Propiedad de otros; ha convertido la Expoliación en Derecho, para protegerla, y la legítima defensa en crimen, para castigarla.

There is in all of us a strong disposition to regard what is lawful as legitimate, so much so that many falsely derive all justice from law. It is sufficient, then, for the law to order and sanction plunder, that it may appear to many consciences just and sacred. Slavery, protection, and monopoly find defenders, not only in those who profit by them, but in those who suffer by them. If you suggest a doubt as to the morality of these institutions, it is said directly — “You are a dangerous experimenter, a utopian, a theorist, a despiser of the laws; you would shake the basis upon which society rests.

Now, legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways. Thus we have an infinite number of plans for organizing it: tariffs, protection, benefits, subsidies, encouragements, progressive taxation, public schools, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed profits, minimum wages, a right to relief, a right to the tools of labor, free credit, and so on, and so on.