The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible - Bastiat Institute

Your action on behalf
of others, or their
action on behalf of
you, is only virtuous
when it is derived
from voluntary,
mutual consent.
Extract from
Jonathan’s Guiding
Principles
Chapter 30 • Treat or Trick?
Medical Aid Scheme”. It is appropriate that
these plans are sometimes called “schemes”.
Another meaning of the word “scheme” is to
connive, to enter into a conspiracy, to intrigue,
or to encourage illegality.
These schemes are a fi nancial “tragedy of the
commons” and are self-destructive.
Logic tells us that systems like these cannot
last. The only way they can survive is either for
people to be forced to put in more, or for the
“needy” to be given less. Social welfare is not
like free manna from heaven – someone has to
pay for it.
When money is forcibly taken from producers
and given to non-producers, production falls
and there is less for everyone. If money is left
with the rightful owners, that is producers and
earners, then it would be used in a manner that
creates more prosperity and jobs.
When people save for their own future needs,
they become independent. However, when
governments pretend to do this for them, people
become dependent on governments – which is a
condition politicians greatly prefer.
People free to choose are more capable of
taking care of themselves and of others, than
people who are not free.
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