The Mind Never Fully Accepts

Sometimes The Law Defends Plunder And Participates In It. Sometimes The Law Places The Whole Apparatus Of Judges, Police, Prisons And Gendarmes At The Service Of The Plunderers, And Treats The Victim - When He Defends Himself - As A Criminal.

As Proof Of This Statement, Consider This Question: Have The People Ever Been Known To Rise Against The Court Of Appeals, Or Mob A Justice Of The Peace, In Order To Get Higher Wages, Free Credit, Tools Of Production, Favorable Tariffs, Or Government-created Jobs? Everyone Knows Perfectly Well That Such Matters Are Not Within The Jurisdiction Of The Court Of Appeals Or A Justice Of The Peace. And If Government Were Limited To Its Proper Functions, Everyone Would Soon Learn That These Matters Are Not Within The Jurisdiction Of The Law Itself.

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.

Property, The Right To Enjoy The Fruits Of One's Labor, The Right To Work, To Develop, To Exercise One's Faculties, According To One's Own Understanding, Without The State Intervening Otherwise Than By Its Protective Action; This Is What Is Meant By Liberty

They Will Come To Learn In The End, At Their Own Expense, That It Is Better To Endure Competition For Rich Customers Than To Be Invested With Monopoly Over Impoverished Customers.