Socialism, Like The Ancient Ideas From Which

If Socialists Mean That Under Extraordinary Circumstances, For Urgent Cases, The State Should Set Aside Some Resources To Assist Certain Unfortunate People, To Help Them Adjust To Changing Conditions, We Will, Of Course, Agree. This Is Done Now; We Desire That It Be Done Better. There Is However, A Point On This Road That Must Not Be Passed; It Is The Point Where Governmental Foresight Would Step In To Replace Individual Foresight And Thus Destroy It.

Repetition May Not Entertain, But It Teaches.

In Fact, If Law Were Restricted To Protecting All Persons, All Liberties, And All Properties; If Law Were Nothing More Than The Organized Combination Of The Individual's Right To Self-defense; If Law Were The Obstacle, The Check, The Punisher Of All Oppression And Plunder - Is It Likely That We Citizens Would Then Argue Much About The Extent Of The Franchise?

They Would Be The Shepherds Over Us, Their Sheep. Certainly Such An Arrangement Presupposes That They Are Naturally Superior To The Rest Of Us. And Certainly We Are Fully Justified In Demanding From The Legislators And Organizers Proof Of This Natural Superiority.

Either Fraternity Is Spontaneous, Or It Does Not Exist. To Decree It Is To Annihilate It. The Law Can Indeed Force Men To Remain Just; In Vain Would It Try To Force Them To Be Self-sacrificing.