Are Legislators And Organizers Naturally Superior Shepherds?

"They would be shepherds over us, their sheep.  Certainly such an arrangement presupposes that they are naturally superior to the rest of us.  And certainly we are justified in demanding from the legislators and organizers proof of this natural superiority."

Frederic Bastiat (1801 - 1850)

Isn't this interesting!?

Two words stand out in this quote - "sheep," and "organizers."

Of course, the quote concerns "they."  The ubiquitous "they..."  We use that word all the time in our daily vernacular - "they" are doing this, and "they" will do that.

These words were spoken a full century before another famous book, Animal Farm, was written by the committed socialist democrat George Orwell.  He was an outspoken critic of Stalin, the dictatorial and brutal nature of Stalinism and what he thought the Russian Soviets were doing to his precious socialism.  He thought "they" were ruining it for the rest of the world!

Some of the most comical characters in the "farm yard" featured in Animal Farm were the sheep.

The leaders of the farm yard, the Two Legs (animals that formerly walked on four legs but gained superiority be distinguishing themselves when they walked on two, like the humans they denigrated), keep the other animals in check brutally, even eliminating dissenters as needed.  The Two Legs, and the leader, a boar named Napoleon (obviously Stalin), create a new social, farm yard doctrine called Animalism.

The Sheep are basically mindless followers who have a limited understanding of what Animalism is doing to the farm yard, and support Napoleon in every way.  They are best at repeating all the little jingles and sayings promoted by the Two Legs.  All dictators have their jingles and sayings.  The Sheep also sing whatever national anthem that comes along, and it changes necessarily over time.

And here, a century before, Bastiat, a politically-liberal economist (he would be considered a radical conservative in today's political climate) compares citizens who blindly follow socialism to sheep!  And the leaders are compared to Shepherds!

Well, in Bastiat's view, the Shepherds, two legs all, see themselves as the Superiors of the Sheep!  Naturally.

Would not these Shepherds also consider themselves to be Wizards of Wonderfully Smart?  Yes, yes they would!

And Bastiat makes the most important statement, a statement that we could ask today, "We are justified in demanding from the legislators and organizers proof of this natural superiority."

Legislators have subjected us to their "superiority" for centuries.  But we are only recently introduced to an "organizer."  So, what is the proof of this, their "natural" superiority?

Are legislators and organizers naturally superior shepherds?

That's an easy one!  Well, never, ever, ever when free enterprise is the leader of the farm yard.