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181 " Mr. Louis Blanc also tells us that competition leads to monopoly. And by the same reasoning, he thus informs us that low prices lead to high prices; that competition drives production to destructive activity; that competition drains away the sources of purchasing power; that competition forces an increase in production while, at the same time, it forces a decrease in consumption. From this, it follows that free people produce for the sake of not consuming; that liberty means oppression and madness among the people; and that Mr. Louis Blanc absolutely must attend to it. "
― Frédéric Bastiat , The Law
182 " according to Montesquieu, the persons, the liberties, the property, mankind itself, are nothing but materials to exercise the sagacity of lawgivers." Rousseau. "
183 " Men, therefore, are nothing but raw material. It is not for them to will their own improvement. They are not capable of it; according to Saint Just, it is only the legislator who is. "
184 " Rousseau.—Although this politician, the paramount authority of the Democrats, makes the social edifice rest upon the general will, no one has so completely admitted the hypothesis of the entire passiveness of human nature in the presence of the lawgiver:— "If "
185 " the radical passiveness of mankind,—the omnipotence of the law,—the infallibility of the legislator:—this is the sacred symbol of the party which proclaims itself exclusively democratic. "
186 " Hacer reinar la justicia está tan en la naturaleza de la ley, que ley y justicia, es todo uno en el espíritu de la gente. Todos tenemos una fuerte inclinación a considerar lo legal como legítimo, hasta tal punto que son muchos los que falsamente dan por sentado que toda justicia emana de la ley. Basta pues que la ley ordene y consagre la expoliación, para que ésta parezca justa y sagrada para muchas conciencias. La esclavitud, la restricción, el monopolio, encuentran defensores no solamente entre los que de ello aprovechan, sino aún entre los que por ello sufren. "