Socialists Want Forced Conformity

by Frédéric Bastiat

　　Be that as it may, Rousseau invests the creators, organizers,directors, legislators, and controllers of society with a terribleresponsibility. He is, therefore, most exacting with them:

　　 "He who would dare to undertake the political creation of apeople ought to believe that he can, in a manner of speaking,transform human nature; transform each individual -- who, by himself,is a solitary and perfect whole -- into a mere part of a greater wholefrom which the individual will henceforth receive his life and being.Thus the person who would undertake the political creation of apeople should believe in his ability to alter man's constitution; tostrengthen it; to substitute for the physical and independentexistence received from nature, an existence which is partial andmoral.* In short, the would- be creator of political man must removeman's own forces and endow him with others that are naturally alien tohim."

　　Poor human nature! What would become of a person's dignity if itwere entrusted to the followers of Rousseau?

　　 *Translator's note: According to Rousseau, the existence ofsocial man is partial in the sense that he is henceforth merely a partof society. Knowing himself as such -- and thinking and feeling fromthe point of view of the whole - he thereby becomes moral.