This was a good read and a nice essay. It concisely summarized the main beats of the readings while keeping a good pace and cadence. It is obvious that you spent a lot of time on this.

However, I found it a bit lacking when it came to the reflection of the reading. Bastiat says a lot, obnoxiously so and there is only a paragraph of opinion. I am going to list what I found I strong about the essay and moments where a bit more opinion could have been used.

Your ability to concisely summarized the pages of reading into a few sentences is genuinely impressive. I found the law and government summaries really easy to read. I did not feel as though you were excluding important information. Throughout the essay you consistently bring Bastiat’s long-winded critiques into nice bite sized sentences to effortlessly read.

In particular, I found the introduction of the reading and the use of shorter quotes interspersed to help break up the summarization enjoyable and well done. Speaking of quotes, I have two I picked out,

Without the government’s power in establishing laws for individuals to follow, internal wars would arise. Law plays a major role in the world and without it, society would suffer and become unsafe for basic living.

Furthermore, Bastiat expresses that the government often deceives society. He believes that the people in charge of running the government do not always choose things that would be best for society, and mostly they enjoy using their power to control individuals within their regions.

Are two examples where I believe some more opinions could have been expressed. A short sentence on what you think about what Bastiat is expressing. Would society suffer and become unsafe? Do the people in power mostly enjoy using their power to control individuals? Even if you agree or disagree with him.

I bring this suggestion up because I honestly do not have an agreement or disagreement with your essay. The conclusion ended up being more of a reflection on the reading from a modern-day perspective without much opinion. So, I suppose, I would agree if I had to pick.

We also see in politics today, that most people still believe for the most part that government enforcement is necessary although political views and opinions vary greatly, and many think their government is deceitful. Big business is still out to make money, using people for labor production and unless people live off the land, society pays a price for most everything. So, while we have progressed since the 1800s, people have not changed. We still fight for our opinions, think we can do better than others, and are ungrateful for the things that come without a cost.

I agree with everything here; I just do not really see where I could even disagree. It ends up being a recontextualization of Bastiat’s statements. I am sure you will have more to say about the readings if you look at them from a more personal perspective. Using a few short opinions throughout the essay could help you set up a major point in your conclusion.

Good read! You are vastly better at making a summary concise than me!