Great part of that order which reigns among mankind is not the
effect of government. It has its origin in the principles of
society and the natural constitution of man. It existed prior to
government, and would exist if the formality of government was
abolished. The mutual dependence and reciprocal interest which man
has upon man, and all the parts of civilised community upon each
other, create that great chain of connection which holds it
together. The landholder, the farmer, the manufacturer, the
merchant, the tradesman, and every occupation, prospers by the aid
which each receives from the other, and from the whole. Common
interest regulates their concerns, and forms their law; and the
laws which common usage ordains, have a greater influence than the
laws of government. In fine, society performs for itself almost
everything which is ascribed to government. from Chapter I: Of
Society and Civilisation He was the premiere political blogger of
his day, a man Thomas Edison called one of the greatest of all
Americans, and one todays liberals and progressives still claim as
their intellectual forefather. An idealist, a radical, and a master
rhetorician, Thomas Paine wrote and lived with a keen sense of
urgency and excitement. In this 1791 defense of revolution, he
championed the right of an oppressed peopleand in particular the
right of the French peopleto rise up to claim their own natural
rights from those who would take them away. A spirited denunciation
of the aristocracy and of hereditary government, The Rights of Man
caused outrage in Great Britain with its call for democratic
reforms of the English system, and Paine was convicted in absentia
for seditious libel against the Crown.(He was, alas, not available
to be hanged.) Everyone who values freedomof speech, of though, of
governanceand the ongoing fight required to maintain it must read
and appreciate this essential work. Anglo-American political
theorist and writer THOMAS PAINE (17371809) was born in England and
emigrated to America in 1774, bearing letters of introduction from
Benjamin Franklin. He also wrote Common Sense (1776) and The
American Crisis (17761783).
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