Here I encounter the most popular fallacy of our times. It is not considered sufficient that the law should be just; it must be philanthropic. Nor is it 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 again: These two uses of the law are in direct contradiction to each other. We must choose between them. A citizen cannot at the same time be free and not free.
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Chicago: Claude Frédéric Bastiat, "The Seductive Lure of Socialism," The Law Original Sources, accessed June 30, 2025, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=96JJ9J91SSESBIV.
MLA: Bastiat, Claude Frédéric. "The Seductive Lure of Socialism." The Law, Original Sources. 30 Jun. 2025. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=96JJ9J91SSESBIV.
Harvard: Bastiat, CF, 'The Seductive Lure of Socialism' in The Law. Original Sources, retrieved 30 June 2025, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=96JJ9J91SSESBIV.