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RIGHTS OF
MAN
by Tom
Paine
Applying Principle to Practice,
Chapter I — Of Society and Civilization
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 civilized
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.
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General Idea of the Revolution in the
Nineteenth Century
"To be GOVERNED is to be watched,
inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated,
enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated,
valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor
the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be GOVERNED is to be at every
operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed,
stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished,
prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under
pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to
be placed under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized,
extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then, at the slightest
resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined,
vilified, harassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound,
choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold,
betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged,
dishonored. That is government; that is its justice; that is its
morality. (…) O human personality! How can it be that you have cowered
in such subjection for sixty centuries?"
(P.-J. Proudhon, General Idea of the
Revolution in the Nineteenth Century, translated by John Beverly
Robinson (London: Freedom Press, 1923), pp. 293-294.)
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