From The Bastiat Collection — surrounding passage

In the economy, an act, a habit, an institution, a la

“[W]hen we disapprove of government support, we are (falsely) supposed to disapprove of the thing itself whose support is discussed. Thus, if we think the State ought not to interfere by taxation in education, we are hostile to knowledge. If we think the State ought not to support artists, we are barbarians, who look upon the arts as useless.”

Against such conclusions as these I protest with all my strength.