This morning came across this gem from Bastiat on Government. Here, he mocks those who believe in the power of government because they expect it to be

…a beneficent and inexhaustible being, …which has bread for all mouths, work for all hands, capital for all enterprises, credit for all projects, oil for all wounds, balm for all sufferings, advice for all perplexities, solutions for all doubts, truths for all intellects, diversions for all who want them, milk for infancy, and wine for old age – which can provide for all our wants, satisfy all our curiosity, correct all our errors, repair all our faults, and exempt us henceforth from the necessity for foresight, prudence, judgment, sagacity, experience, order, economy, temperance, and activity.

That is both a perfect description of the modern view of government and also a timeless description of humanity’s view of a Divine Being. In our genius, we have replaced a transcendent Divine Being with an earth-bound one. <facepalm>

You can read his essays online or load them onto your Kindle through the Magic Catalog for Project Gutenberg.