The Law and legal plunder

Been reading a book called “The Law”. It is the best discourse I have read on the purpose of having laws. It was written in the eighteen hundreds by Fredric Bastiat. Some French at that time had a great admiration for America’s freedom since the French revolution had brought in socialism and they felt enslaved by different masters. "Democracy in America" is another good book of that era.The French would have one tyrant, a king and he would be replaced by many tyrants due to revolutions. I always liked the Tale of Two Cities and it had scenarios from that period. One group would take over and then another. At what point does law violate good morals and become unjust? That is the subject of the book.
Aristotle said that Politics is the best study a man can apply himself to since it affects the ability of each individual to fulfill the dreams of his heart. Ethics is a broad subject but here are a few simple principals concerning ownership and freedom; The only way for someone to be considered generous is for him to give of his own sustenance. There are those who like to appear generous and take things by force and give to another person. This is what is called despotism. A person who wants acclaim for giving someone else’s goods is a despicable person. Someone who uses his sustenance up for immediate pleasure with no forethought is considered a prodigal. Anyone who supports such a person is also a prodigal in Aristotle’s eyes. We use the term enabler. Prodigal behavior can be corrected when the person experiences displeasure or matures. Those that keep them comfortable are doing them a disservice and they never learn the lesson that pain gives. There are also people who do what is right and experience bad luck. Being able to tell the difference is best done on a local level. The closer the giver is to the situation, the better he is at deciding if the person is worthy of help or if he needs to learn first. The beneficiary will owe that person honor and respect, otherwise he shouldn't be helped. To treat someone with contempt who contributed to you is a grave injustice.
A law must have force behind it or it is nothing more than a suggestion. Laws are made to protect a person from being murdered, enslaved or stolen from. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness respectively. According to Bastiat, it is impossible to use law for benevolence without legalizing theft. He called it legal plunder. If you take what a person has earned freely, you have also violated his freedom. Liberty and forced benevolence are contrary to each other and cannot exist together. He saw only three choices; Everyone plunders everyone, a few appointed plunderers do the job and distribute how they see fit, or we have freedom to keep what we earn. He also said that throughout history, when a system of plunder is in place, revolutionaries usually just fight to gain control of the system for themselves. This fact makes it hard to uproot a socialist system of plunder once it is in place.
How does this apply to today’s complex system? I have never been much of a groupy or a lemming. Decisions have to be made according to principle rather than hysteria. In some things such as highways, interstate and international travel and some economic regulation is necessary. There are promises made through entitlements and we have a welfare system. My family was on welfare due to hardship while I was a teenager but we all worked our way out of it. It should be a temporary thing. Work is the solution and jobs. I will try to address specific subjects in the future. Whatever we do should be agreed on by both parties. The person who is good at bringing them together rather than being divisive is the right person for the job as a leader. He will take the time to articulate his view and get others on board respectfully.