Frederic Bastiat: A Man Alone

193 Pages·2011·1.53 MB·English

by  George Charles Roche III

FREDERIC BASTIAT
A Man Alone

ARCHITECTS OF FREEDOM SERIES
FREDERIC BASTIAT
A Man Alone
GEORGE CHARLES ROCHE III
ARLINGTON HOUSE New Rochelle, N.Y.
Copyright © 1971 by Arlington House, New Rochelle, New York. All rights reserved. No portion of this
book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may
quote brief passages in connection with a review.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 71-139891
ISBN 0-87000-116-7
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
TO JUNE,
who knows so much more French than her husband.
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
1. A Time of Preparation
Bayonne
Mugron
2. Revolution: 1830
A Peaceful Revolutionary
The Citizen King
Aftermath
3. Freedom of Exchange
Bastiat and the Tariff
Cobden and the League
The Debate Begins
Paris
Le Libre-Exchange
The French Free Trade Association
The Political Ramifications of Free Trade
4. Revolution: February 1848
The Corruption of French Society
Bastiat on the Eve of Revolution
Prelude to Revolution
The Streets of Paris
The Chamber of Deputies
Middle-Class Apathy
Violence in the Streets
Aftermath
5. The Triumph of French Democracy
Bastiat Comes to the Assembly
The Struggle Begins
National Workshops
The Approaching Clash
6. Revolution: June 1848
Bastiat Stands Against the Tide
The Workers and the Demagogues
The Communist Threat
The Proper Role of Government
Disarmament
Unpopular Causes
The Sick Republic
7. Last Days
Bastiat’s Analysis of France in 1850
The Race with Death
8. Bastiat and the Social Architects
Bastiat’s Style in Controversy
The Desire for Power
Rousseau
The French Revolutionaries
Saint-Simon and Fourier
“A Marxist before Karl Marx”
Louis Blanc
Proudhon
The Future of France
The Moral Corruptions of the Interventionist State
The Natural Development of Society
9. Conservatives and Libertarians
The Whig Tradition
Edmund Burke
Frenchmen and Englishmen
Coleridge
Bentham
Mill
Cobden
Cobbett
England Loses Her Way
The American Whig
France
Tocqueville
What’s In a Name?
Bastiat and His Place in the Scheme of Things
Democracy
The Nature of Man
The Nature of Government
The Nature of Society
Inequality and Injustice
Progress and Harmony
Self-interest
Property
Liberty
Conservatives and Libertarians
10. Frederic Bastiat Today
The Seen and the Unseen
We Are All Consumers
Production of True Wealth
The Necessity of Capital
Political Solutions
Economic Decisions at the Ballot Box
Social Decisions at the Ballot Box
Education as Propaganda
The Limitations of Political Solutions
Individual Choice and Individual Responsibility
Bastiat’s Advice for Tomorrow
Aphorisms
Politics
Economics
The Social Architects
What of the Future?
Index