"Some writers have so confounded society with government , as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants; and government by our wickedness ; the former promotes our happiness 'positively ' by uniting our affections, the latter 'negatively' by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last is a punisher.
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in the best state is but a necessary evil ; in the worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries 'by a government ,' which we 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 lawgiver ; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish the 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."
P.6-7, "Common Sense," PAINE : COLLECTED WRITINGS (1955)
Thursday, April 21, 2016
THOMAS PAINE, "COMMON SENSE"
"Some writers have so confounded society with government , as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants; and government by our wickedness ; the former promotes our happiness 'positively ' by uniting our affections, the latter 'negatively' by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last is a punisher.
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in the best state is but a necessary evil ; in the worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries 'by a government ,' which we 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 lawgiver ; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish the 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."
P.6-7, "Common Sense," PAINE : COLLECTED WRITINGS (1955)
