Whatever Happened to 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 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."

These were a few of the words penned by Thomas Paine that were influential in assisting the average citizen of the early American colonies to understand the reality that government had intruded much to deeply into their lives.

In a world of government bailouts, stimulus packages designed to concentrate power into an elite few, and a growing belief among the general populace that "big brother" can keep us safe, maybe it's time to listen to some voices of our past that spoke Common Sense.