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Vithirax -> on COMMON SENSE. (7/1/2008 12:35:47 AM)
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PERHAPS the Sentiments contained in the following Pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favour; a long Habit of not thinking a Thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right,
and raises at first a formidable Outcry in defense of Custom. But the
tumult soon subsides. Time makes more Converts than Reason.
---- Ommision ----
Society in every state is a blessing, but government
even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an
intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same
miseries by a Government, which we might expect in a country without Government,
our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by
which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost
innocence; the palaces of Kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of
Paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and
irresistibly obeyed, Man would need no other lawgiver; but that not
being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his
property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he
is induced to do, by the same prudence which in every other case
advises him, out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows, that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.
---- Ommision ----
Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely,
a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern
the world; here too is the design and end of government, viz. Freedom
and Security. And however our eyes may be dazzled with show, or our
ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or
interest darken our understanding, the simple voice of nature and of
reason will say, 'tis right.
---- Ommision ----
Absolute governments, (tho' the disgrace of human nature) have this advantage with them, that they are simple; if the people suffer, they know the head from which their suffering springs; know likewise the remedy; and are not bewildered by a variety of causes and cures. But the constitution of England is so exceedingly complex, that the nation may suffer for years together without being able to discover in which part the fault lies; some will say in one and some in another, and every political physician will advise a different medicine.
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excerpts from Common Sense, By T H O M A S P A I N E,
SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS TO CONGRESS IN THE AMERICAN WAR,
AND AUTHOR OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN, &C. &C.
First published in January 1776
This edition is from 1791
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If you are not aware of this document, study your history a little more closely. I hope you read this though, and then re-evaluate the current state of affairs in the government of our time.
Vithirax
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