… is from page 195 of Liberty Fund’s 2017 expanded English-language edition, brilliantly edited by David Hart, of Frédéric Bastiat’s indispensable work Economic Sophisms and “What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen”; specifically, it’s from Bastiat’s January 1847 essay “The Utopian” (“L’Utopiste”):
I admire the ease with which in certain countries it is possible to perpetuate the most unpopular things by giving them a different name.
DBx: Words, labels, language matter.
Here, Bastiat referred to military conscription being given a sweeter-sounding name. But, of course, the practice of masking the reality of a thing by giving it a misleading name is extensive. A few other examples of misleading labeling include:
– “protectionism” for “the practice of artificially increasing the incomes of politically powerful producers by using restrictions that artificially decrease the incomes of consumers and of less-powerful producers”
– “occupational licensing” for “the practice of artificially increasing the incomes of politically powerful producers by using restrictions that artificially decrease the incomes of consumers and of less-powerful producers”
– “trade deficit” for “capital surplus” (or for “inflow of capital”)
– “civil asset forfeiture” for “banana-republic-style lawless thievery by the state”
– “law” for “legislative diktat”
– “diversity” for “mindless conformity to the precepts of modern ‘Progressivism'”
– “affirmative action” for “government-enforced racism”
