Allyssa,

I enjoyed reading your feedback on the Bastiat writings over law and government. I agree that he does a great job establishing the importance of the law and what it should be used for. His petition to the candlemakers is a great satire that helped see some of other issues with law if not done correctly. I like how you brought up Shein in your discussion. Specifically when you said “These underpaid workers that work in these big factories must go through harsh work every single day, so people can brag about their cute, cheap clothes;”(Rooks, 2023). I have heard a lot of bad information about the Shein workplace. Additionally, as Americans I believe we should be supporting the communities around us and their stores. Buying from Shein is much cheaper, however, we probably should not support it. I also agree with your statement that the government is scamming citizens to a degree. A lot of information can be exchanged and twisted in the media and people are confused about the government's motive. This is very relatable to what Bastiat has to say about the government's purpose. The government should not have a purpose other than to serve the citizens and protect them. Through covid 19 we were able to see the Government's response to the threat. This caused many Americans to think more about how much power the government currently holds. This also allowed them to consider the possibility that the Government is keeping secrets from us. Politically, it seems as if the United States has never been more divided. It is hard not to see this as the governments doing. I disagree that the Government is a scam. You stated that Bastiat says: The Law connects with the government, and we can see that when Bastiat claims, “Law is organized justice” (Frederic, 2011, p.62)without the Government the world would be chaos. However, I agree the government holds too much power over the American citizens. This has been accomplished through the media and through large corporation involvement. I enjoyed that you brought up the bright outlook that Bastiat had when writing this. In today's culture it seems that people are very easy to take offense. Small issues have become large issues through mass collaboration. Bastiat's writing is a demonstration for how issues were more discussable when people did not take offense to everything. I agree with many of the points of your writing and enjoyed getting to hear your takeaways from his works. In regards to what you said about staying neutral, I disagree. People should have their opinions and should be open to discussing them with people. It is only beneficial if both parties listen to what the others say, have a strong basis, and have a reason for believing in such a way.