Dakota Beacon

A summary of the distinctions expressed by founder Thomas Paine in “Common Sense”

by Lynn Bergman

Society…

• is produced by our wants

·         promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections

·         encourages intercourse (discussion)

·         is a patron

·         in every state is a blessing

Government…

• is produced by our wickedness
• promotes our happiness negatively by restraining our vices.
• creates distinctions
• is a punisher
• 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 (taxation).
• like dress (clothing), is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers (dwellings) of paradise.

Security, being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it (security) to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.

Commentary:

The wisdom of the founders came not because they were smarter or wiser that we are today…it came from the fact that they were very personally under the thumb of British tyranny and knew from such first hand experience how such tyranny may be prevented… resulting in the birth of our constitution and its subsequent amendments.

If every school child in America were taught to understand and appreciate Paine’s explanation of the distinction between “society” and “government”, instead of merely a passing reference to Paine and his “Common Sense”, our country would be a lot better off. First-time voters would be more alert to pandering and endless promises.

A fundamental misunderstanding of that distinction by many, if not most, Americans today is, in large part, what has led us down the road of creeping socialism and the “equality that is poverty itself”. What Greece faces now… we shall face sooner than we think if we do not better educate our children regarding the founders’ wisdom.

© 2012 Lynn A. Bergman