Laissez-faire is hereby applicable to honest behaviour because the State has been instituted to hinder dishonesty.

Frédéric Bastiat
Complete Works, Volume 7, page 237 (in French)
Jacques Bonhomme, June 11th, 1848

Yet another extremely short article published in this first issue of Jacques Bonhomme, which pleas on one single page in favour of the laissez-faire liberal approach that appears as the obvious solution here. On top of today’s quote, Frédéric Bastiat adds that “the State can either let (“laissez faire” in French) or prevent to do things”. To these two options, we could add that the State can dictate what to do but this is the definition of a dictatorship, which is not only not considered a proper aspiration by Frédéric Bastiat but also an option bound to failure as will be shown by Friedrich Hayek in his Nobel Prize lecture (reproduced on page 66 of the little book) given fifty years ago this month.

To the democrats demanding universal suffrage but think that to let the people do what they want can only lead to chaos, mistakes or horror, he gives the following conclusion pointing at their own inconsistencies: “You are proclaiming that those same people you consider fit to govern others, are unfit to govern themselves!”