Common Sense

"To say that the commons is a check upon the kind, presupposes two things.

First: That the kind is not to be trusted without being looked after, or in other words, that a thirst for absolute power is the natural disease of monarchy.
Secondly: That the commons, by being appointed for that purpose, are either wiser or more worthy of confidence than the crown.

But as the same constitution which gives the commons a power to check the king by withholding the supplies, gives afterwards the king a power to check the commons, by empowering him to reject their other bills; it again supposes that the king is wiser than those whom it has already supposed to be wiser than him. A mere absurdity!

There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required. The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a king requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different parts, unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the whole character to be absurd and useless."

Source: Common Sense by Thomas Paine


This is just a short part out of a book that I am currently reading. This is the book that created the modern United States, Paine's incendiary call for Americans to revolt against British rule converted millions to the cause of independance and set out a vision of a just society - free from corruption and cronyism - which remains inspiring today.

Just a thought: If a book is named 'Common Sense', the content of the book can't be too common, can it?