… is paragraph 97 of Chapter 1 (“The Physiology of Plunder”) of the Second Series of Frédéric Bastiat‘s brilliant collection entitled (in English) Economic Sophisms (original emphasis):
Governing is so pleasurable a profession that everyone aspires to engage in it. Hence, the demagogues never cease telling the people: “We are aware of your sufferings, and we deplore them. Things would be different if we were governing you.”
DBx: While I long ago ceased to be surprised by people’s naiveté about the motives and abilities of government officials – such naiveté, after all, is the norm, even among many of those who outwardly profess to be suspicious of the motives and abilities of government officials – I will never understand such naiveté. The notion of empowering strangers to run your life, even if those strangers promise to improve your lot in life with resources and freedoms seized from other people who allegedly deserve to have their resources and freedoms seized, has always struck me as about the dumbest notion that any human being can embrace. But I realize that I’m among the tiny handful of odd-people-out here, for most human beings do seem to believe – indeed, positively cherish the fallacy – that politics is splendidly transformative as long as the right ‘team’ is in charge.
