Bastiat's The Law and Two Trees
Bastiat wrote in his treatise, The Law, "Self-preservation and self-development are common aspirations among all people. And if everyone enjoyed the unrestricted use of his faculties and the free disposition of the fruits of his labor, social progress would be ceaseless, uninterrupted, and unfailing.
But there is also another tendency that is common among people. When they can, they wish to live and prosper at the expense of others. This is no rash accusation. Nor does it come from a gloomy and uncharitable spirit. The annals of history bear witness to the truth of it: the incessant wars, mass migrations, religious persecutions, universal slavery, dishonesty in commerce, and monopolies. This fatal desire has its origin in the very nature of man — in that primitive, universal, and insuppressible instinct that impels him to satisfy his desires with the least possible pain."
Bastiat nails it pretty well. However, Bastiat also stumbles a bit too, as we all do. Bastiat in his reliance on the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil", i.e. our brains and our free will choice to decide for ourselves what is right and wrong, only sees mankind at this level or on "this frequency" if we were to put it in spiritual, quantum terms. Bastiat fails to grasp the "Tree of Life". That we were intended, by our Creator, to rise above those baser, primal instincts that Bastiat labels the "nature of man". Man's true "spiritual nature" is totally ignored by Bastiat, and many other scholars, and not seeing or having our true "spiritual nature" or "spiritual potential" revealed to us is mostly our own faults. If we only focus on the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil", and it becomes our only source, then the "Tree of Life" withers and dies within us.
Bastiat is right on when he writes about the "covetousness" in all our hearts and how we "kill", "steal" and "covet", breaking three of God the Father and Creator's commandments, by using our own created governments to take from our neighbors what we are unwilling to provide for ourselves.
Bastiat wrote in his treatise, The Law, “It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law [the law of nature and nature's God] into an instrument of plunder. What are the consequences of such a perversion? It would require volumes to describe them all. Thus we must content ourselves with pointing out the most striking. In the first place, it erases from everyone’s conscience the distinction between justice and injustice. No society can exist unless the [civil laws] laws are respected to a certain degree. The safest way to make [civil laws] respected is to make them respectable. When [civil law] and morality [an aspect of natural law, which is written on our "hearts" our souls] contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect of the [civil] law. These two evils are of equal consequence, and it would be difficult for a person to choose between them. The natural law [the law of nature and nature's God, written on our hearts, if we will listen] is to maintain justice. This is so much the case that, in the minds of people, [civil] law and justice [natural law] are one and the same thing. There is in all of us a strong disposition to believe that anything [civilly] lawful is also legitimate. This belief is so widespread that many persons have erroneously held that things are “just” because the [civil] law makes them so. Thus in order to make plunder appear just and sacred to may consciences, it is only necessary for the [civil] law to decree and sanction it. Slavery, restrictions, and monopoly find defenders not only among those who profit from them but also among those who suffer from them.”
Focusing on changing the primal instincts of man's flesh is going in the wrong direction. The Messiah put it as trying to get "figs from a thorn bush" and "a dog always returns to its vomit and a pig to the mire". This is played out in our daily lives in one way by "voting", which is basically a belief that if only the "right man or woman", (a clean pig, i.e. a candidate for office cleans up pretty good to get elected) were in the office then things would change, but as soon as the candidate is elected, its back to the mire.
The real answers lie in turning around and returning to the true source, which is the Tree of Life and God's form of government and law, but we have strayed so far from the Tree of Life that we don't even think or know there is a real choice, but rather believe that the Kingdom or government of God is only for when we die and go to heaven, but not now, at hand, in the flesh, today. This is the most Satanic of all doctrines, but that is what people are fed in the non-profit, tax-exempt organizations of the State, people erroneously call "churches". People are fed the lie that God ordains these man-made governments. No He doesn't. He only Ordains His own government and allows all the others to keep free will choice alive. Man's created governments are for the "wicked and unrighteous", which simple means people that freely choose to go their own way and choosing to kill, steal and covet.
Again this is where Bastiat fails to see the truth. There is a choice. A free-will choice we can all make. But it first requires letting go of all the customs and traditions that we cling too and becoming like a little child again so the Tree of Life can once again begin to grow within us.
As long as we continue to cling to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and we decided what is right and wrong, we will continue to follow our "basic human nature" and try to make laws that impose our sense of right and wrong upon our neighbors, we will continue to kill, steal and covet our neighbor's labor, time and property to provide what we are selfishly unwilling to provide for ourselves.
God the Father has His Way and Law and we are not to add to it or take away from it. His Way and Law are perfect, but as long as we think "we know better and can decide for ourselves" we will continue to feel the sting of death, the loss of rights, the pain and suffering of consequences we have imposed on ourselves, by our free will choices, for breaking and rejecting the natural laws of God the Father and Creator.