I don’t know who Krzysztof Szczawinski is, and couldn’t pronounce his name if my life depended upon it. I only know he seems to be a pretty smart Polish fellow who calls himself a “fan of reason, liberty, and Western Civilization.” He has recently written, on “X,” an excellent summary of Frédéric Bastiat’s views on “law,” and I’d like to share his summary here and put it into an American context. But Mr. Szczawinski deserves the credit for the good things here, not me. Any mistakes are mine. I want that clear.

For those who might need a little introduction, Frédéric Bastiat was an early 19th-century French economist and philosopher, a strong believer in free trade and limited government. In other words, much in line with the thinking of Adam Smith, our Founding Fathers, the Austrian school of economics, Friedman, Sowell, Williams, and other champions of free market economics. His philosophy is highly regarded by those who prize free economic principles. If you’ve never heard of him, it’s because the Left hates his guts and doesn’t want you to know what he taught. And since the big government Left has dominated the American education system for generations now, Bastiat is not as well known as he should be. I think you will see why in the synopsis below.

Here is Mr. Szczawinski’s summary of Bastiat, with some (mostly unnecessary) comments from me afterwards.

“1. Every person has a natural right to defend their life, liberty, and property. Law is simply that individual right organized collectively – nothing more, nothing less.”

The whole purpose of law should be to protect people’s........

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