The Forgotten Man of William Graham Sumner

I just read this portion of an essay written by William Graham Sumner in 1883 which I wanted to share to show yet another reason I advocate less and less government:

“As soon as A observes something which seems to him to be wrong, from which X is suffering, A talks it over with B, and A and B then propose to get a law passed to remedy the evil and help X. Their law always proposes to determine what C shall do for X, or in the better case, what A, B, and C shall do for X…. [W]hat I want to do is to look up C…. I call him the Forgotten Man…. He is the man who never is thought of.  He is the victim of the reformer, social speculator and philanthropist, and I hope to show you before I get through that he deserves your notice both for his character and for the many burdens which are laid upon him.”

Here is the whole essay if you’re interested:

http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/rbannis1//AIH19th/Sumner.Forgotten.html