Books to Discuss: Bastiat's The Law
Details
Following up on last month's reading of Common Sense, this month we’re reading The Law by Frédéric Bastiat, a foundational text in classical liberal thought.
Bastiat makes a sharp and provocative argument: when law is used to take from some and give to others, it becomes “legal plunder.” From that premise, he builds a framework for understanding justice, government overreach, and individual rights.
We’ll explore:
- What law should be vs. what it often becomes
- The concept of “legal plunder”
- How these ideas show up in today’s world
