seize private land and lay and collect taxes only in the name of the general good. The government has the right to take away land to use it for internal improvements or infrastructure. In addition, government has the prerogative and the absolute right to establish regulations for property or trade that benefits the general good. Raymond states that protectionism is vehemently opposed to laissez-faire. In Book II, Chapter VIII, "Monopolies and Colonial Systems," Raymond wrote, "There is no hardship or injustice, in excluding foreign nations from a participation in our domestic trade, but there would be a very great hardship, as well as injustice, in excluding any portion of our own citizens from a participation in it." On unproductive labor In Book I, Chapter XVII, Raymond considered the labor that laissez-faire advocates like not to be worthwhile to civilization. Protectionists understand what is a useful pursuit and what is a blight. Raymond stated that a destructive occupation is a detriment to civilization and that a pursuit fails to help society if it has no ability to increase the standards of the requirements and conveniences of life or to foster the joy and happiness of the society. Also, he said that when poets, painters and musicians cease to produce innocent enjoyments, they become uncongenial and unproductive. However, he considered the best example of an occupation that never suited society well to be the speculator and the stock-jobber (stock broker): "The object of those employed in these occupations, is not to produce any of the necessaries and comforts of life. Different persons may have other opinions of the moral character of these occupations, but all must agree that they are useless, and unproductive to the community." He then finished the chapter by stating the duties of man and government: each man must endeavor to foster the longevity of civilization, and no man has the warranted right to be a mindless being, by using his time repugnantly or by engaging in uncongenial pursuit. For him, government is an imperative and a paramount concern to stifle all occupations that are grotesque and a blight to mankind and, as much as possible, not to facilitate them. References External links Enlightenment philosophers American economists American political writers American male non-fiction writers 1786 births 1849 deaths