ZadekpediaFrédéric Bastiat is a recurring reference point on The Bob Zadek Show, invoked by host and guests alike as a source for libertarian argument rather than treated in a dedicated biographical episode. Bob Zadek introduces him as a French philosopher who lived roughly from 1801 to 1850 or 1851, notes that Bastiat would not have called himself a libertarian, and recommends his book The Law as easy to read Cash For Clunkers is a Dud (2009).
The state as fiction
In the 2009 episode on “Cash for Clunkers,” Bob Zadek opens with a Bastiat quotation — “The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else” — and says Bastiat could have been describing the Obama administration, calling the program the type of legislation at issue that day Cash For Clunkers is a Dud (2009). Bob’s guest, Katherine Mangu-Ward, a senior editor at Reason magazine, is introduced as a Yale graduate who had been a reporter for the Weekly Standard and a researcher at the New York Times op-ed page for columnist John Tierney Cash For Clunkers is a Dud (2009). The excerpt of her remarks breaks off before she speaks.
The “unseen”
In the 2022 episode with Mike Munger, Bob Zadek says Munger is channeling Bastiat, who reminded us almost 200 years ago to pay attention to what Bastiat called “the unseen,” and argues that decisions are made in ignorance if the unseen consequences are ignored Troubleshooting the Constitution (2022). Bob adds that ignoring the unseen has the advantage of being less likely to haunt a decision-maker, since attacking such decisions requires referring to things that did not happen. Munger agrees, saying Bastiat came up with a pithy phrase for a general problem and that what is disappointing is that we have learned nothing, noting the phrase was written in 1850 Troubleshooting the Constitution (2022).
Munger’s discussion of the pandemic response illustrates the point: he argues that restricting access to tests, work, or school forgoes what people would have produced and what children would have learned, and that measuring cases while ignoring what did not happen is the cost of what is called science Troubleshooting the Constitution (2022). He cites the case of a man in California arrested for surfing alone after a lockdown order, with the Coast Guard sent after him, and says science does not actually say anything — what decisions rest on is evidence Troubleshooting the Constitution (2022). Bob frames the same theme through the Chicago Teachers Union vote for remote learning and the concept of concentrated benefits and diffuse detriments Troubleshooting the Constitution (2022).
Bastiat as a formative influence
In the 2021 episode on founding the Free Republic of Liberland, Vít Jedlička says he studied Bastiat at age 13, came across his books by coincidence, and became a keen supporter of laissez-faire from then on Founding the Free Republic of Liberland (2021). He recommends The Law as an amazing book that summarizes what is wrong with modern society, and says it is interesting how Bastiat was able to put the problems of modern politics into a book so old. Jedlička calls Bastiat the grandfather of the libertarian movement, from whom Mises and Rothbard and other thinkers took their source, and says he was keen to push forward Bastiat’s idea of freeing society from oppression by the state Founding the Free Republic of Liberland (2021). He summarizes Bastiat’s cure as letting people be, letting the economy be, not installing tariffs, not taxing people, and not regulating them, because regulations mostly benefit a few, usually monopolies Founding the Free Republic of Liberland (2021). Jedlička describes studying economy at the Economic School of Prague and Charles University, studying at the CEVRO Institute in Prague, starting a think tank called Reformy.cz, and starting a political party that got one member into the European Parliament before he concluded it was easier to start a new country than to fix the system from within Founding the Free Republic of Liberland (2021).
The Broken Window Fallacy
Two 2023 episodes pair Bob Zadek with Mike Munger, identified as a professor of political science, economics, and public policy at Duke University, to discuss the “Broken Window Fallacy” as it applies to green energy policies and environmentalism The ‘Broken Window Fallacy’ is Back (2023). The second episode describes the same fallacy as first described by Bastiat and frames environmentalism as a quasi-religious movement centered on sacrifice rather than sound resource management The ‘Broken Window Fallacy’ is Back (2023). Both excerpts are summaries rather than transcript, and neither preserves Bastiat’s own words.
Across episodes: the unseen
The same Bastiat idea is argued in more than one episode, and the treatment shifts in emphasis. In the 2022 episode, Bob Zadek and Mike Munger use the “unseen” to analyze pandemic-era restrictions, with Munger supplying the examples of remote schooling and the arrested surfer and calling Bastiat’s phrase a pithy description of a general problem Troubleshooting the Constitution (2022). In the 2023 episodes, the same fallacy is turned to environmental policy, with the summaries naming green energy, recycling, landfill management, and the destruction of wealth to create “green jobs” The ‘Broken Window Fallacy’ is Back (2023) The ‘Broken Window Fallacy’ is Back (2023). What changes is the target of the argument, not the argument; Munger advances it in both, and Bob frames it in both.