Bastiat – Economic Harmonies – 17.51
Bastiat:
But when private services become public, they are exempt from competition, and this admirable harmony is no longer manifested. The public official, in fact, is deprived of the stimulus that urges us on to progress. And how can progress work for the common good when it is nonexistent? The civil servant acts, not under the spur of self-interest, but under the shadow of the law. The law says to him: “You will render the public a certain fixed service, and you will receive from the public a certain other fixed service in return.” A little more or a little less zeal changes nothing in these fixed terms. Self-interest, on the other hand, whispers these words into the ear of the free worker: “The more you do for others, the more others will do for you.”
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