Laws can be made to help some people to have better lives, but it will cost other people their good lives. Laws are rules set by people who feel that they are at a higher level of life than everyone else who is not able to create laws. Legislators create laws to help people in need, while harming those who do not need the help that are being offered to others. A law was passed just recently that made it illegal for females of all ages to have abortions in certain states in the United States of America. Like what Bastiat said <“…The law is made, generally by one man, or by one class of men,” (2011, p.53).> The legislators who created the law were majority males. The law affects women not men about having children and not having children. Children might be the future of the world but the child should not come into the world by force, such as a young female being raped, a woman who can get pregnant but not able to carry full-term without miscarriage, a woman in poor health that will not be able to give birth without serious complications. There are cases where the umbilical cord wraps around the baby's throat or is not connected to the baby while in the womb and an abortion is the only way without waiting until the baby is born to take it out because leaving a dead child inside can cause problems and complications to the mother's health. One man or one class of men can not make a law that does not affect them but only effects women. If a woman wants to have an abortion because of certain reasons like what has previously been mentioned, they should have a right to fight for it and not be accused of killing a child that they do not want or know will not make it to the birth. <“…As every individual has a right to have recourse to force only in cases of lawful defense, so collective force, which is only the union of individual forces, cannot be rationally used for any other end,” (Bastiat 2011, p.89).> Laws should be made to help and protect those who need help and protection not force people to do things that they do not want to do. <“…Will take up the cause of the working classes, and claim them by means of the law, at a fixed rate, clothing, lodging, food, and everything necessary for the support of life,” (Bastiat 2011, p.90).> People who ask for help need it those who do not ask, do not need it or do not want help from others.
The government should not focus on their gains but the gain in which the country gets by new laws being created to better the country. Humans are greedy beings by nature but few are able to turn away from greed and focus on the feeling of accomplishment they receive by helping others, such as a blind person trying to cross the street with people ignoring them and continuing on their way. The blind person will feel gratitude for the person who helped them and the person who helped them will feel great at being able to make others better by doing little things. Laws are created by legislators who seek benefits for creating the laws, and raising taxes when the money needs to be earned back to cover the costs of the new laws. <“Government is only too much disposed to follow this diabolical advice, for it is composed of ministers and officials – of men, in short, who, like all other men, desire in their hearts, and always seize every opportunity with eagerness, to increase their wealth and influence,” (Bastiat 2011, p.99-100).> The government has always been selected by the people who put their trust in them to help those in need and have no faith in themselves to reach for the position of power, where everyone will be watching them and hoping that they can finally have the help that they need. The government will always hid the hand that will take so that they can continue to receive benefits and stay in position and when the time comes leave with all their benefits. <“It has two hands – one to receive and the other to give, in other words, it has a rough hand and a smooth one. The activity of the second is necessarily subordinate to the activity of the first. Strictly, Government may take and not restore,” (Bastiat 2011, p.102).> Humans will always be greedy and take what they can when they can such as promising certain laws, but not talking about the rise in taxes due to creating said laws. The laws always sacrifice something for the law to be affective. <“You have ceased to have any right to invoke the interest of the consumer; for, whenever his interest is found opposed to that of the producer, you sacrifice the former. You have done so for the purpose of encouraging labor and increasing employment. For the same reason you should do so again,” (Bastiat 2011, p.230).> When consumers want a law created that lowers taxes, the producer suffers the loss of profit and vice versa. The world is run by people who are greedy for profit and greedy for power no matter how you look at it and Bastiat was correct when talking about all the different eras having different rules, but the same concept still applies, every ruler or leader is greedy for power and benefits.
Bastiat Frédéric. (2011). Petition of the Manufacturers of Candles, Waxlights, Lamps, Candlelights, Street Lamps, Snuffers, Extinguishers, and the Producers of Oil, Tallow, Resin, Alcohol, and, Generally, of Everything Connected
with Lighting. In The bastiat collection (pp. 227–232). essay, Ludwig von Mises Institute.
Bastiat Frédéric. (2011). Government. In The bastiat collection (pp. 95–107). essay, Ludwig von Mises Institute.
Bastiat Frédéric. (2011). The Law. In The bastiat collection (pp. 49–94). essay, Ludwig von Mises Institute.