Beginning of Essay
. By Thomas Paine. Edited with an Introduction by Isaac Kramnic. (New York: Penguin Books, 1986). Recently, I acquired a copy of Thomas Paine’s most recent patriotic pamphlet, entitled . I was immediately interested in what Paine had to say in his new work, ....

Middle of Essay
.... we are more productive. Paine makes his contempt for the current system of government quite clear early on. "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 even we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamities is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer." (65) Paine clearly believes that the English government falls into the "intolerable" category of governments. Although a system of government is a required entity in almost any ....