《the origins of contemporary france-4》

下载本书

添加书签

the origins of contemporary france-4- 第30部分


按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!

social system。

For then; it adds a new article to the primitive pact; for which

article there is not the same unanimous and assured assent that

existed for the pact。  We are all willing to be secured against

violence and fraud; outside of this; and on almost any other point;

there are divergent wills。  I have my own religion; my own opinions;

my habits; my customs; my peculiar views of life and way of regarding

the universe; now; this is just what constitutes my personality; what

honor and conscience forbid me to alienate; and which the State has

promised me to protect。  Consequently; when; through its additional

article; it attempts to regulate these in a certain way; if that way

is not my way; it fails to fulfill its primordial engagement and;

instead of protecting me; it oppresses me。  Even if it should have the

support of a majority; even if all voters; less one; should agree to

entrusting it with this supererogatory function; were there only one

dissenter; he would be wronged; and in two ways。  …



First of all; and in any event; the State; to fulfill its new tasks;

exacts from him an extra amount of subsidy and service; for; every

supplementary work brings along with it supplementary expenses; the

budget is overburdened when the State takes upon itself the procuring

of work for laborers or employment for artists; the maintenance of any

particular industrial or commercial enterprise; the giving of alms;

and the furnishing of education。  To an expenditure of money add an

expenditure of lives; should it enter upon a war of generosity or of

propaganda。  Now; to all these expenditures that it does not approve

of; the minority contributes as well as the majority which does

approve of them; so much the worse for the conscript and the tax…payer

if they belong to the dissatisfied group。  Like it or not; the

collector puts his hand in the tax…payer's pocket; and the sergeant

lays his hand on the conscript's collar。  …



 In the second place; and in many circumstances; not only does the

State unjustly take more than its due; but it uses the money it has


extorted from me to apply unjustly new constraints against me。  Such

is the case;



* when it imposes on me its theology or philosophy;

* when it prescribes for me; or interdicts; a cult;

* when it assumes to regulate my ways and habits;

* when it assumes to limit my labor or expenditure;

* when it assumes to direct the education of my children;

* when it assumes to fix the prices of my wares or the rate of my

wages。

For then; to enforce its commands and prohibitions; it enacts light or

serious penalties against the recalcitrant; all the way from political

or civil incapacity to fines; imprisonment; exile and the guillotine。

In other words; the money I do not owe it; and of which it robs me;

pays for the persecution which it inflicts upon me; I am reduced to

paying out of my own purse the wages of my inquisitors; my jailer and

my executioner。  A more glaring oppression could not be imagined! …

Let us watch out for the encroachments of the State and not allow it

to become anything more than a watch…dog。  Whilst the teeth and nails

of other guests in the household have been losing their sharpness; its

fangs have become formidable; it is now colossal and it alone still

keeps up the practice of fighting。  Let us supply it with nourishment

against wolves; but never let it touch peaceable folks around the

table。  Appetite grows by eating; it would soon become a wolf itself;

and the most ravenous wolf inside the fold。  The important thing is to

keep a chain around its neck and confine it within its own enclosure。



IV。



The state is tempted to encroach。  … Precedents and reasons for its

pretensions。



Let us go around the fold; which is an extensive one; and; through its

extensions; reach into almost every nook of private life。  …  Each

private domain; indeed; physical or moral; offers temptations for its

neighbors to trespass on it; and; to keep this intact; demands the

superior intervention of a third party。  To acquire; to possess; to

sell; to give; to bequeath; to contract between husband and wife;

father; mother or child; between master or domestic; employer or

employee; each act and each situation; involves rights limited by

contiguous and adverse rights; and it is the State which sets up the

boundary between them。  Not that it creates this boundary; but; that

this may be recognized; it draws the line and therefore enacts civil

laws which it applies through its courts and gendarmes in such a way

as to secure to each individual what belongs to him。  The State

stands; accordingly; as regulator and controller; not alone of private

possessions; but also of the family and of domestic life; its

authority is thus legitimately introduced into that reserved circle in

which the individual will has entrenched itself; and; as is the habit

of all great powers; once the circle is invaded; its tendency is to

occupy it fully and entirely。  … To this end; it invokes a new

principle。  Constituted as a moral personality; the same as a church;

university; or charitable or scientific body; is not the State bound;

like every corporate body that is to last for ages; to extend its

vision far and near and prefer to private interests; which are only

life…interests; the common interest (l'intérêt commun) which is

eternal? Is not this the superior end to which all others should be

subordinated; and must this interest; which is supreme over all; be

sacrificed to two troublesome instincts which are often unreasonable

and sometimes dangerous; to conscience; which overflows in mystic

madness; and to honor; which may lead to strife even to murderous

duels? … Certainly not; and first of all when; in its grandest works;

the State; as legislator; regulates marriages; inheritances; and

testaments; then it is not respect for the will of individuals which

solely guides it; it does not content itself with obliging everybody

to pay his debts; including even those which are tacit; involuntary

and innate; it takes into account the public interest; it calculates

remote probabilities; future contingencies; all results singly and

collectively。  Manifestly; in allowing or forbidding divorce; in

extending or restricting what a man may dispose of by testament; in

favoring or interdicting substitutions; it is chiefly in view of some

political; economical or social advantage; either to refine or

consolidate the union of the sexes; to implant in the family habits of

discipline or sentiments of affection; to excite in children an

initiatory spirit; or one of concord; to prepare for the nation a

staff of natural chieftains; or an army of small proprietors; and

always authorized by the universal assent。  Moreover; and always with

this universal assent; it does other things outside the task

originally assigned to it; and nobody finds that it usurps when;



* it coins money;

* it regulates weights and measures;

* it establishes quarantines;

* on condition of an indemnity; it expropriates private property for

public utility;

* it builds lighthouses; harbors; dikes; canals; roads;

* it defrays the cost of scientific expeditions;

* it founds museums and public libraries;

* at times; toleration is shown for its support of universities;

schools; churches; and theaters;

and; to justify fresh drafts on private purses for such objects; no

reason is assigned for it but the common interest。  (l'intérêt commun)

… Why should it not; in like manner; take upon itself every enterprise

for the benefit of all? Why should it hesitate in commanding the

execution of every work advantageous to the community; and why abstain

from forbidding every harmful work? Now please note that in human

society every act or omission; even the most concealed or private; is

either a loss or a gain to society。  So if I neglect to take care of

my property or of my health; of my intellect or of my soul; I

undermine or weaken in my person a member of the community which can

only be rich; healthy and strong through the wealth; health and

strength of his fellow members; so that; from this point of view; my

private actions are all public benefits or public injuries。  Why then;

from this point of view; should the State scruple about prescribing

some of these to me and forbidding others? Why; in order to better

exercise this right; and better fulfill this obligation; should it not

constitute itself the universal contractor for labor; and the

universal distributor of productions? Why should it not become the

sole agriculturist; manufacturer and merchant; the unique proprietor

and administrator of all France? … Precisely because this would be

opposed to the common weal (l'intérêt de tous; the interest of

everyone)'15'。   Here the second principle; that advanced against

individual independence; operates inversely; and; instead of being an

adversary; it becomes a champion。  Far from setting the State free; it

puts another chain around its neck; and thus strengthens the fence

within which modern conscience and modern honor have confined the

public guardian。



V。



Direct common interest。  … This consists in the absence of constraint。

… Two reasons in favor of freedom of action。  … Character; in general;

of the individual man。  … Modern complication。



In what; indeed; does the common weal (l'intérêt de tous; the interest

of everyone) consist? … In the interest of each person; while that

which interests each person is the things of which the possession is

agreeable and deprivation painful。  The whole world would in vain

gainsay this point; every sensation is personal。  My suffering and my

enjoyments are not to be contested any more than my inclination for

objects which procure me the one; and my dislike of objects which

procure me the other。  There is; therefore; no arbitrary definition of

each one's particular inte
小提示:按 回车 [Enter] 键 返回书目,按 ← 键 返回上一页, 按 → 键 进入下一页。 赞一下 添加书签加入书架