The Choice Before Us

by Frédéric Bastiat

　　This question of legal plunder must be settled once and for all,and there are only three ways to settle it:

　　1. The few plunder the many.

　　2. Everybody plunders everybody.

　　3. Nobody plunders anybody.

　　We must make our choice among limited plunder, universal plunder,and no plunder. The law can follow only one of these three.

　　Limited legal plunder: This system prevailed when the right tovote was restricted. One would turn back to this system to preventthe invasion of socialism.

　　Universal legal plunder: We have been threatened with this systemsince the franchise was made universal. The newly enfranchisedmajority has decided to formulate law on the same principle of legalplunder that was used by their predecessors when the vote was limited.

　　No legal plunder: This is the principle of justice, peace, order,stability, harmony, and logic. Until the day of my death, I shallproclaim this principle with all the force of my lungs (which alas! isall too inadequate).*

　　 *Translator's note: At the time this was written, Mr.Bastiat knew that he was dying of tuberculosis. Within a year, he wasdead.