My paraphrase of a 19th century economist, Frédéric Bastiat:
“When stupid greed and false philanthropy unite, the greatest evil is born into society: the law is transformed into an instrument of theft. Why is that so great a perversion? It erases from everyone’s conscience the distinction between justice and injustice while giving an exaggerated importance to politics. The object of our aims changes from producing wealth through the diligent, careful and rigorous application of our time, effort, resources and ingenuity into confiscating by the force of law the wealth already produced by an oppressed and vilified minority. When the majority realize they can vote themselves the money belonging to the rich, who will stop them?”