Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.

Summary

This quote, often attributed to French economist Frederic Bastiat, suggests that government is a construct that allows people to benefit from the resources and efforts of others. In this view, individuals seek to use government as a means to secure advantages and privileges for themselves, shifting the burden of cost and responsibility onto others. It implies a perspective that government can be seen as a self-interested entity rather than a neutral instrument of public service, pointing to the potential risk of excessive reliance on and exploitation of government to gain personal advantages.

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