Reply #69: Hi Pain, if you liked what Galbraith had to say about “Moral justification for selfishness” [View All]

[Larry Ogg]

then you will definitely like what http://www.fluxneo.com/llbarnhart/bastiat.htm"> Frederick Bastiat said about the law.

The Origin of Law

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In order to understand the origins of law, it is useful to survey our options when it comes to relating to one another. "Man can live and satisfy his wants only by ceaseless labor; by the ceaseless application of his faculties to natural resources. This process is the origin of property.
"But it is also true that a man may live and satisfy his wants by seizing and consuming the products of the labor of others. This process is the origin of plunder. 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."4
In general, a culture or community prospers in proportion to the number of honest workers it has relative to the number of predators in their midst. On the face of it, this concept is quite simple. However, there is no nation or community in the world that does not have legal double standards. In other words, what is illegal for most remains legal for some. When this happens, the predators have, in effect, overtaken the organization that was originally created to control them.
<snip>

And welcome to DU :hi: