BOOK VI OF OPINION CONSIDERED AS A SUBJECT OF POLITICAL INSTITUTION CHAP. I. GENERAL EFECTS OF THE POLITICAL SUPERINTENDENCE OF OPINION Arguments in favor of this superintendence. -- Answer. -- The exertions of society in its corporate capacity are, 1. unwise -- 2. incapable of proper effect. -- Of sumptuary laws, agrarian laws and rewards. -- Of spies. -- Political degen- racy not incurable. -- 3. superfluous -- in com- merce -- in speculative inquiry -- in morality -- 4- pernicious -- as undermining the 'best qualities of the mind -- as hostile to its future improvement. -- Conclusion. A PRINCIPLE which has entered deeply into the systems of the writers on political law is that of the duty of governments to watch over the manners of the people. 'Government, say they, 'plays the part of an unnatural step mother, not of an affectionate parent, when she is contented by rigorous punishments to avenge...
Its Nature, Object, and Destiny
The Revolution of February raised two leading questions: one economic, the question of labor and property; the other political, the question of government or the State. On the first of these questions the socialistic democracy is substantially in accord. They admit that it is not a question of the seizure and division of property, or even of its repurchase. Neither is it a question of dishonorably levying additional taxes on the wealthy and property-holding classes, which, while violating the principle of property recognized in the constitution, would serve only to overturn the general economy and aggravate the situation of the proletariat. The economic reform consists, on the one hand, in opening usurious credit to competition and thereby ... (From : proudhonlibrary.org.)