And What Is Liberty, Whose Very Name

What, Then Is Law [government]? It Is The Collective Organization Of The Individual Right To Lawful Defense.

And This Is What Has Taken Place. The Delusion Of The Day Is To Enrich All Classes At The Expense Of Each Other; It Is To Generalize Plunder Under Pretense Of Organizing It.

Legal Plunder Can Be Committed In An Infinite Number Of Ways; Hence, There Are An Infinite Number Of Plans For Organizing It: Tariffs, Protection, Bonuses, Subsidies, Incentives, The Progressive Income Tax, Free Education, The Right To Employment, The Right To Profit, The Right To Wages, The Right To Relief, The Right To The Tools Of Production, Interest Free Credit, Etc., Etc. And It The Aggregate Of All These Plans, In Respect To What They Have In Common, Legal Plunder, That Goes Under The Name Of Socialism.

Nothing Is More Senseless Than To Base So Many Expectations On The State, That Is, To Assume The Existence Of Collective Wisdom And Foresight After Taking For Granted The Existence Of Individual Imbecility And Improvidence.

When Misguided Public Opinion Honors What Is Despicable And Despises What Is Honorable, Punishes Virtue And Rewards Vice, Encourages What Is Harmful And Discourages What Is Useful, Applauds Falsehood And Smothers Truth Under Indifference Or Insult, A Nation Turns Its Back On Progress And Can Be Restored Only By The Terrible Lessons Of Catastrophe.