The Story of Bastiat’s *The Law*

Why a Humanist Can Speak Harshly

— On Bastiat’s *The Law*

Lately, I’ve often seen the word “plunder” used to describe the behavior of the left. When I first read Bastiat’s *The Law* several years ago, the word that surprised me most was precisely “plunder.” Bastiat clearly stated that collective pillaging, whether legal or illegal, that numbs the moral sense is plunder. The precision of that expression cleared my mind, yet only a few years ago I still found myself wondering whether I, living in the present age, could really use such a word.

What kind of person can stand alone and cry out, “What you are doing through the law is plunder”? Especially at a scene of national philanthropy, where the community is contributing together to help people, what kind of person would shout, “What you are doing now is plunder”? To all appearances, that person would surely seem either insane or hopelessly self-righteous.

“A person who has been burned knows that it is dangerous to go near fire.

But I would like to introduce a more courteous teacher—foresight—in place of that cruel teacher called experience.”

Some say that the cold-hearted right should learn from the warm-hearted left. They then try to find some middle ground for compromise. But there is nothing to learn from, and nothing to compromise with, in someone who merely sympathizes with a person trying to jump into a fire—or worse, someone pushing that person into the flames from behind. There isn’t even time for that. We must shout. The one who jolts people to their senses by shouting and speaking harshly is the truly warm-hearted humanist. A real humanist is not someone who wants to be called a humanist while doing something or other; a real humanist is someone whose desire to save the people in immediate danger before his eyes takes precedence over his own reputation.

As I read Bastiat, I can feel the sharpness of his conviction. I can sense where that predecessor, who fought alone in a time even more desperate than ours, drew his strength, and what the source of his faith was.

“They place their hopes not in mankind itself, but in the legislator. We place our hopes not in the legislator, but in mankind itself.”

The reason we cannot raise our voices louder, the reason we cannot endure with tenacity, is that we lack conviction. Conviction arises from faith in the ethical foundation of one’s beliefs. And only that kind of conviction enables a person to speak hard truths forcefully, without fearing the loneliness that may follow. It is conviction, not dogmatism, because it springs from hope in humanity.

We must not forget that we are true humanists who place our hope not in legislators, but in human beings. We must not forget our pride that our struggle today is rooted in love for humanity and hope for humanity, nor our conviction in the ethical foundation of our beliefs. Even if we become lonely, we can endure it. Only our rough, harsh words, born of conviction, will allow this society—or more precisely, our descendants—to avoid cruel experience.

2023.3.6 Nam Sangmin

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Original title: 바스티아 <법> 이야기

Author: Ja-yu-ju-ui Ipmun Dokseo Toron Moim

Date: 2023-03-06

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=reading01&pn=4&idx=25434