One wise Frenchman

Although this is an off year, C.S. Lewis' Omnipotent Moral Busybodies will not sleep. Many municipal elections will be held, and do-gooders yet in the larval stage will emerge to grace us with their superior wisdom and save us from ourselves as they take the first steps toward bigger things. Oh yeah; they'll vigorously protect their own property values and nurse their pet peeves while they're at it. You will probably have a chance to vote in these elections should you care enough to do so. (Unless, of course, you live in my city, where a combination of voter apathy and archaic law precludes challengers.)

Before you vote, though, I would ask that you read a book by a Frenchman who died about 150 years ago. His name was Frederic Bastiat, and his book was The Law.

The Law is a short, simple, eloquent, non-ranting book about basic human rights and the proper role of government. It is also powerful. Just as C.S. Lewis used Mere Christianity to speak common sense to the common man, Bastiat's work is breathtaking (and I don't use silly words like that very often) in its wow-that-makes-a-lot-of-sense quality.

The Law is in the public domain, I believe, and it is downloadable for free online if you don't want to purchase the book. It's short, and the free 2-hour audiobook can be completed during rush hours to and from work or while walking behind the lawnmower, as in my case. I like the one with the foreword by Walter E. Williams, but that's just because I think Dr. Williams is a pretty swell guy; any of the translations you find will probably do just fine.

The book will serve to reinvigorate long-held but deeply-buried beliefs for some, and it will force others like me to dig a little deeper into their thought processes to root out inconsistencies. Like Dr. Williams, I don't believe that any education is complete without it.