Thomas (Tom) Paine - Philosophy and Government
Thomas (Tom) Paine (1737-1809)
English philosopher (pictured right) who had a big influence on the American and French Revolutions.
He moved to America from 1774 and returned in 1802 after living in France.
His most famous publications are...
1. Common Sense (1776),
(supporting the American Revolution against British rule)
2. The American Crisis (1776),
(a collection of American Revolutionary articles)
3. Rights of Man (1791)
(asserting that people have certain natural rights that governments can’t take away from
them).
What did he say about government?
1. Everyone has rights
He supported John
Locke’s (pictured right) idea that everybody has certain natural
rights like liberty, which government should protect and never remove.
This principle was also enshrined in Thomas
Jefferson’s (pictured right below) American Declaration of
Independence which gave people the right to;
“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.
2. Maximum freedom, minimal government
Everyone must have maximum freedom with minimal interference from government,
Government is at best a “necessary evil” and at worst “intolerable”.
People have the:
- responsibility to work hard to keep it.
3. Fair capitalism
Like Adam Smith (pictured right) , he
believed in a free market economy in which companies produce things that people want.
But Paine:
a) attacked the extremes of wealth and poverty
(“like dead and living bodies chained together”, he said)
b) supported social security and pensions for the poor
(financed by a progressive income tax - taxing the rich more than the poor).
4. Power to the people
His pamphlet, Common Sense (1776), attacked the:
- principle of power and privilege by birth.
Instead power and reward should be given to people who are talented and work
hard (later called a meritocracy).
So he urged America to fight for independence from Britain.
The past’s customs and practices should be rejected, so that every generation “can begin the world over
again”.
5. Equality of opportunity
Everyone must have:
- the same opportunity to succeed.
- a free education to make the best use of their talents.
But equality of income is impossible, because some people will work harder, and so be
richer.
Key quotes on
change
We have it in our power to begin the world over again.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
These are the times that try men's souls (talking about the Revolutionary War in
The American Crisis) .
Key quote on globalization and
religion
My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.
Key quote
on empowerment
With rights come responsibilities.
Key quote on objectives
and vision
Life is a daring adventure or
nothing.
Key quote on
ethics
Character is much easier kept than recovered
Key quote on
America
The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.
Key quote on
religion
My mind is my own church (stating his preference for intellectual reason and thought over religion).
Key quote on learning and
wisdom
You can’t conquer an idea with an army.
Key quote on corporate
culture
Moderation in principle is always a vice.
Key quote on
education
One schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests.
Key quote on
happiness
It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself.
Key quote on
pricing
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.
Key quotes on government and
politics
Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness.
Governments must have arisen either out of the people or over the people.
Government even in its best state is but a necessary evil
Key quote on learning and
wisdom
I am a farmer of thoughts, and all the crops I raise I give away.
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