Common Sense by Thomas Paine

[VanishingPoi]

Just in case no one has ever read this, please do. I cherry picked a paragraph but hey - read it yourself.


Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, with Concise Remarks on the English Constitution
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 a punisher.

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 upon 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.

http://www.ushistory.org/paine/commo...singlehtml.htm

[donquixote99]

Yep. Security is it. You will have government. You can have rule by bandits/warlords, or you can have something hopefully better, but you can't have no government.

[Boreas]

I like John Prine's version.

John

[VanishingPoi]

Originally Posted by Boreas

I like John Prine's version.

John

I had no idea who John Prine was so I looked him up and listened. Nice, very nice, but what version are you talking about? Did he sing something about Paine.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by VanishingPoi

I had no idea who John Prine was so I looked him up and listened. Nice, very nice, but what version are you talking about? Did he sing something about Paine.

"Common Sense" is the title of an album by Prine and of a song on the album. It's a good album but not his best. My favorite is his first self-titled album.

John

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Boreas

"Common Sense" is the title of an album by Prine and of a song on the album. It's a good album but not his best. My favorite is his first self-titled album.

A stone cold masterpiece. I still play it frequently. I saw him again a couple of years back (along with Steve Earle) and everybody in the entire (large) crowd knew every word of every song and sang along exuberantly. I've played his first album untold hundreds of times and many of the lyrics still crack me up. Feckin' genius.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by finnbow

A stone cold masterpiece.

The albums to look for are "John Prine", which I consider his best and significantly better than "Common Sense", and "Sweet Revenge". "Diamonds In The Rough" gets a nod as well. I love his dark sensibilities and ironic humor. There is also a delicately tragic sensibility to much that he writes.

John

[VanishingPoi]

Originally Posted by Boreas

"Common Sense" is the title of an album by Prine and of a song on the album. It's a good album but not his best. My favorite is his first self-titled album.

John

I see. Thank you.

[merrylander]

I simply wonder why they call it Common Sense when it is so bloody Uncommon.

[VanishingPoi]

Originally Posted by merrylander

I simply wonder why they call it Common Sense when it is so bloody Uncommon.

Thomas Paine wrote "Common Sense" in the 1700s. His essays played a big role in the American revolution because he had a great understanding of the Monarchy.