--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The welfare state is institutionalized…" description: "\"The welfare state is institutionalized crime - 'organized plunder,' as the French economist Frederic Bastiat called it. It systematizes what is intrin..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bba/joseph-sobran-6902_crime_the-welfare-state-is-institutionalized-c_891856.jpg" --- # The welfare state is institutionalized crime - 'organized… ![“The welfare state is institutionalized crime - 'organized plunder,' as the French economist Frederic Bastiat called it. It systematizes what is intrinsically wrong: forcing some people to support others. The Democrats favor the indefinite expansion of the welfare state, perpetually increasing the…” quote by Joseph Sobran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bba/joseph-sobran-6902_crime_the-welfare-state-is-institutionalized-c_891856.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bba/joseph-sobran-6902_crime_the-welfare-state-is-institutionalized-c_891856.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bba/joseph-sobran-6902_crime_the-welfare-state-is-institutionalized-c_891856.jpg) > “The welfare state is institutionalized crime - 'organized plunder,' as the French economist Frederic Bastiat called it. It systematizes what is intrinsically wrong: forcing some people to support others. The Democrats favor the indefinite expansion of the welfare state, perpetually increasing the ratio of force to freedom in society.” [Joseph Sobran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-sobran/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The welfare state forces redistribution, limiting freedom and increasing coercion. **In simple terms:** Welfare is seen as organized plunder. Key Takeaway Question the trade‑off between aid and liberty. Themes politics economics freedom Mood critical analytical Type political philosophical When to use this quote - policy debates - tax reform - social programs Key Concepts redistribution state power individual rights Questions to Reflect On - Is all welfare inherently coercive? - How can aid respect individual liberty? A Different Perspective Complex social needs may require collective support. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Crime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crime/) [Democrat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/democrat/) [Economist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economist/) [Expansion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expansion/) [Expansion Welfare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expansion-welfare-1155853/) [Favors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/favors/) [Force](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/force/) [Frederic Bastiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/frederic-bastiat-224455/) [Institutionalized Crime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/institutionalized-crime-1155851/) [Organized](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organized/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Plunder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/plunder/) [Ratios](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ratios/) [State Institutionalized](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/state-institutionalized-1155852/) [States](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/states/) [Support](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/support/) [Welfare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/welfare/) [Welfare state](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/welfare-state/) ## Related quotes > [Thus we seem to be on the verge of an expansion of welfare economics into something like a social science of ethics and politics:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-e-boulding/thus-we-seem-to-be-on-the-verge-of-an-expansion-of-welfare-economics/) [Kenneth E. Boulding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-e-boulding/) > [The steady expansion of welfare programs can be taken as a measure of the steady disintegration of the Negro family structure over the past…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-patrick-moynihan/the-steady-expansion-of-welfare-programs-can-be-taken-as-a-measure-of/) [Daniel Patrick Moynihan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-patrick-moynihan/) > [Yes, I am a pirate, two hundred years to late. Cannons don't thunder, there's nothing to plunder, I'm an over forty victim of fate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-buffett/yes-i-am-a-pirate-two-hundred-years-to-late-cannons-don-t-thunder/) [Jimmy Buffett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-buffett/) > [“The character of Moses, as stated in the Bible, is the most horrid that can be imagined. If those accounts be true, he was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/the-character-of-moses-as-stated-in-the-bible-is-the-most-horrid-that/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [There are people who think that plunder loses all its immorality as soon as it becomes legal. Personally, I cannot imagine a more alarming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-bastiat/there-are-people-who-think-that-plunder-loses-all-its-immorality-as/) [Frederic Bastiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-bastiat/) > [The business of obscuring language is a mask behind which stands the much bigger business of plunder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frantz-fanon/the-business-of-obscuring-language-is-a-mask-behind-which-stands-the/) [Frantz Fanon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frantz-fanon/) > [“Private property based on the labour of the small proprietor, free competition, democracy, i.e., all the catchwords with which the capitalists and their press…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/private-property-based-on-the-labour-of-the-small-proprietor-free/) [Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/) > [Why, I say, that to tax the community for the advantage of a class is not protection; it is plunder, and I entirely disclaim…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/why-i-say-that-to-tax-the-community-for-the-advantage-of-a-class-is/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [Sometimes the law defends plunder and participates in it. Sometimes the law places the whole apparatus of judges, police, prisons and gendarmes at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-bastiat/sometimes-the-law-defends-plunder-and-participates-in-it-sometimes/) [Frederic Bastiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-bastiat/) > [In the nature of things, those who have no property and see their neighbors possess much more than they think them to need, cannot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-webster/in-the-nature-of-things-those-who-have-no-property-and-see-their/) [Daniel Webster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-webster/) > [Inflation is not caused by the actions of private citizens, but by the government: by an artificial expansion of the money supply required to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/inflation-is-not-caused-by-the-actions-of-private-citizens-but-by-the/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [They're counting on your patriotism to distract you from their plunder. They're counting on you to be standing at attention with your hand over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-moyers/they-re-counting-on-your-patriotism-to-distract-you-from-their/) [Bill Moyers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-moyers/) > [The greatest of all crimes are the wars that are carried on by governments, to plunder, enslave, and destroy mankind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lysander-spooner/the-greatest-of-all-crimes-are-the-wars-that-are-carried-on-by/) [Lysander Spooner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lysander-spooner/) > [The politician attempts to remedy the evil by increasing the very thing that caused the evil in the first place: legal plunder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-bastiat/the-politician-attempts-to-remedy-the-evil-by-increasing-the-very/) [Frederic Bastiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-bastiat/) > [Africa, being the major target of colonial plunder, therefore becomes a major source of conflict.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-horne/africa-being-the-major-target-of-colonial-plunder-therefore-becomes-a/) [Gerald Horne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-horne/) ## More by Joseph Sobran > [Government is the agent of those who are too refined to do their own mugging.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-sobran/government-is-the-agent-of-those-who-are-too-refined-to-do-their-own/) [Joseph Sobran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-sobran/) > [Liberalism's fatal flaw,... is that it has no permanent norms, only a succession of enthusiasms espoused by minor prophets. 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Conservatives should make them spell out their principles and ideals. Instead of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-sobran/liberals-have-a-new-wish-every-time-their-latest-wish-is-granted/) [Joseph Sobran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-sobran/) > [Politics is the conspiracy of the unproductive but organized against the productive but unorganized.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-sobran/politics-is-the-conspiracy-of-the-unproductive-but-organized-against/) [Joseph Sobran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-sobran/) > [ ...\[T\]he Constitution conferred only a few specific powers on the federal government, all others being denied to it (as the Tenth Amendment would make… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-sobran/t-he-constitution-conferred-only-a-few-specific-powers-on-the-federal/) [Joseph Sobran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-sobran/) > [ ...\[T\]oday's Washington is about as attentive to the Tenth Amendment as the Unitarian Church is to the Book of Revelation. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-sobran/t-oday-s-washington-is-about-as-attentive-to-the-tenth-amendment-as/) [Joseph Sobran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-sobran/) > [I call the present system 'Post-Constitutional America.' As I sometimes put it, the U.S. Constitution poses no serious threat to our form of government.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-sobran/i-call-the-present-system-post-constitutional-america-as-i-sometimes/) [Joseph Sobran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-sobran/) > [Most Americans aren't the sort of citizens the Founding Fathers expected; they are contented serfs. Far from being active critics of government, they assume…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-sobran/most-americans-aren-t-the-sort-of-citizens-the-founding-fathers/) [Joseph Sobran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-sobran/) > [Because the state can no longer protect us from crime, it wants to take away from us the means of protecting ourselves. 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I don't want to make the same mistakes the criminals do! ;)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nishan-panwar/taking-notes-while-watching-forensic-files-and-snapped-i-don-t-want/) [Nishan Panwar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nishan-panwar/) > [A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/a-man-could-be-a-lover-and-defender-of-the-wilderness-without-ever-in/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Nations sometimes flourish by denying the crimes that brought them into being. 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