Font size
WorksheetsThe Law -Frederic Bastiat
Total questions: 22
Worksheet time: 16mins
According to Bastiat: From where do our rights first come? (pg2 of The Law)
From government who gives us rights based on their authority
From Society who acts as the majority
From selfless elite masterminds who decide what's best for everyone
God-granted, preceding any laws that may exist
According to Bastiat: When is it permissible for a person to use force against someone else? (pg 2 of The Law)
When it is to the benefit of others
In protection of their individual natural rights
To take what you want
To weed out the weak through natural selection
According to The Law: When may governing authorities rightfully exercise force? (pg3)
Anytime since God gives government power
When people violate the laws they establish
To protect individual natural rights
Never, except in war
When people refuse to do what's best for society
What are the two causes for the laws perversion? (pg4 and pg20)
Stupid greed and false philanthropy
Religious interference and special interest groups
Error and misinformation
Corruption and poor work ethic
On which page of The Law do you find "and He has put us in the midst of a variety of natural resources. By the application of our faculties to these natural resources we convert them into products, and use them. This process in necessary in order that life may run its appointed course"
Pg 2
Pg 5
Pg 1
Pg 3
John Locke explained that people acquire ownership of something by mixing labor with natural resources. Would you agree?
Yes
No
According to Bastiat, what should a government have the power to do? (Pg 3)
Tax and regulate at will
Mandate requirements for public safety
Enforce its laws
Only what an individual may do
If government was run according to Bastiat, why would it never be blamed for anything? (select 2 answers found on Pg 3)
Each person would possess the privileges as well as the responsibilities of their own existence
The government is set above mankind in order to arrange, organize, and regulate it according to their fancy
people would not think of thanking the government for their success or blaming it for their failure
Government would be secured and controlled by all, and each person would have an equal stake in its success
How does Bastiat define legal plunder? (Two answers Pg15)
Hiring pirates to take ships and belongings for the national benefit and well being
See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons
See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime
Does the law treat everyone fairly without respect to the condition of their state and character
What are the peoples three choices when dealing with legal plunder? Choose 3-
pg 17 in The Law
Legitimize legal plunder as a benefit to the majority
The few plunder the many
Somebody must always be plundered
Nobody plunders anybody
Everybody plunders everybody
How is the Law a negative concept according to Bastiat? (pg 22 and 23)
Because the purpose of the law is to prevent injustice from reigning or occurring
Because the purpose of the law is to force people to do what they don't want to do
Because the purpose of the law is to annoy people into compliance
Because the purpose of the law is to correct those who do wrong not impede those who by their own moral guidance do right
How does government education violate Bastiat's conception of a just system of laws and government? (2 answers pg-25)
Governments force people to pay for a system of education which people may not agree with, a violation of the right to keep our own property
Government education takes business away from private schools and creates a system in which people have no freedom to choose where they receive an education
It may unfairly discriminate what type of education its people receive, this violates the law of equality
it compels them to attend those government schools, a violation of liberty
When they can, people wish to live and prosper at the expense of others. According to their degree of enlightenment, these plundered classes may propose one of two entirely different purposes when they attempt to attain political power. They may wish to share in the plundering, or they may wish to stop it. The inclination that leads people to share in the plunder rather than stop it is called the fatal what? (pg 5)
(a)
What does Bastiat argue is a consequence of lawful plunder? (pg 7-8)
People lose their livelihood as the government unjustly absorbs more and more of their hard earned earnings
People lose the ability to distinguish between a just and an unjust law
The government grows in size and power until it no longer exist to serve people but rather the people exist to serve government
If government functioned according to Bastiat's principle, why would it not matter who had the power to vote? (pg 11) The laws, being restricted, would be powerless to infringe upon peoples life, liberty or property. People would recognize that the law...
plays no significant role in affecting daily life
is the best way to acquire new voting rights and exert political influence
could not be used in a way that violated its nature as a "negative" check against injustice.
when applied "correctly" is a curb, a mirror and a guide and benefits all those to whom it applies.
When will men naturally resort to plunder (theft)? (pg 5)
When they view too many pirate movies
When there is inequality
When the law says it is allowed
When its easier than working
When does plunder stop? (pg 5)
It will never stop
When it is harder than working
When everyone has enough
When pigs fly
What is plunder? (pg 20)
A falling action or stumbling on your words
When your a pirate and you take jewels and gold from other ships
Transfer of wealth without the owner's consent and without mutually agreed upon terms of compensation
Unplugs drains when they are clogged
(pg 7) It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: The conversion of the law into an instrument of...
(a)
When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the (a) (found on pg 8)
What are the two issues in the US that Bastiat saw to be violations of the Law? (pg 13)
Abortion and drug restrictions
Federal taxs and paper money
Tariffs and slavery
Vaccine mandates and limits on assault rifles
According to Bastiat: The fundamental rights of mankind are? (Pg1 of The Law)
Given by government
Healthcare, Income, Food
Life, Liberty, Property
The right to take what you can from others who also take from you
