If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?
Frédéric Bastiat, The Law (June 1850; Dean Russell, trans., 1950).
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Frédéric Bastiat
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My response to Bastiat: Yes, they do so believe, and that delusion becomes more likely and/or more intense the longer they possess political power. Hence, there needs to be a cumulative term limit, such that nobody can make a career out of holding offices of political power.