Government - The Anti-Society

The following is an excerpt from a pamphlet published in 1776 by Thomas Paine titled Common Sense.

"SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.

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 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. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him, out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.

In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the rest; they will then represent the first peopling of any country, or of the world. In this state of natural liberty, society will be their first thought. A thousand motives will excite them thereto; the strength of one man is so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for perpetual solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and relief of another, who in his turn requires the same. Four or five united would be able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a wilderness, but one man might labour out the common period of life without accomplishing any thing; when he had felled his timber he could not remove it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger in the mean time would urge him to quit his work, and every different want would call him a different way. Disease, nay even misfortune, would be death; for, though neither might be mortal, yet either would disable him from living, and reduce him to a state in which he might rather be said to perish than to die.

Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly arrived emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessings of which would supersede, and render the obligations of law and government unnecessary while they remained perfectly just to each other; but as nothing but Heaven is impregnable to vice, it will unavoidably happen that in proportion as they surmount the first difficulties of emigration, which bound them together in a common cause, they will begin to relax in their duty and attachment to each other: and this remissness will point out the necessity of establishing some form of government to supply the defect of moral virtue.

Some convenient tree will afford them a State House, under the branches of which the whole Colony may assemble to deliberate on public matters. It is more than probable that their first laws will have the title only of Regulations and be enforced by no other penalty than public disesteem. In this first parliament every man by natural right will have a seat.

But as the Colony encreases, the public concerns will encrease likewise, and the distance at which the members may be separated, will render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet on every occasion as at first, when their number was small, their habitations near, and the public concerns few and trifling. This will point out the convenience of their consenting to leave the legislative part to be managed by a select number chosen from the whole body, who are supposed to have the same concerns at stake which those have who appointed them, and who will act in the same manner as the whole body would act were they present. If the colony continue encreasing, it will become necessary to augment the number of representatives, and that the interest of every part of the colony may be attended to, it will be found best to divide the whole into convenient parts, each part sending its proper number: and that the ELECTED might never form to themselves an interest separate from the ELECTORS, prudence will point out the propriety of having elections often: because as the ELECTED might by that means return and mix again with the general body of the ELECTORS in a few months, their fidelity to the public will be secured by the prudent reflection of not making a rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange will establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this, (not on the unmeaning name of king,) depends the STRENGTH OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE HAPPINESS OF THE GOVERNED.

Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here too is the design and end of government, viz. Freedom and security. And however our eyes may be dazzled with show, or our ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our understanding, the simple voice of nature and reason will say, 'tis right.

I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, the less liable it is to be disordered, and the easier repaired when disordered..."

I also quote Thomas Paine in the following, as I can't preface my comments with anything better.

"In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense: and have no other preliminaries to settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine for themselves that he will put on, or rather that he will not put off, the true character of a man, and generously enlarge his views beyond the present day."

The Constitution of the United States of America is made up of 7 articles and occupies only a few pieces of paper when printed. Including an associated bill or rights and all of its amendments it could easily be printed and kept in a basic children's school notebook in any filing cabinet, anywhere.

Thomas Paine said, "Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world".

I believe that The U.S. Constitution in its original form defined a government capable of upholding moral virtue via an exemplary government structure designed to only do what it was required to do while allowing the citizens of the United States of America and their inherent moral virtue to do everything else required to make the country the greatest on earth. It was designed to be a government that could foster the moral virtue that existed when society was formed by pilgrims in North America, and protect it and administer it on a large scale to be enjoyed by all people participating in that society, which became The United States of America, the greatest nation on earth.

I find Thomas Paine's words prophetic however, and unfortunately so.

It is clear that regardless of political party rule, the Federal and State Governments of The United States of America are undoubtedly growing larger and more far reaching in their roles than at any point in the nations history. By doing so I believe they rob our society of the ability to govern itself via moral virtue, which is the founding governing influence by which all societies are successfully founded. It seems as though our current implementation of government is successfully aiding to force a wedge between the foundation of our society (moral virtue) and the blueprint for our government (The United States Constitution).

I am going to use the following example of how this has happened over time, Separation of Church and State.

It is generally accepted among many United States Citizens that Separation of Church and State is an ideal included in or defined specifically by The Constitution of the United States of America; this is incorrect. The wording in The U.S. Constitution states, "congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...".

It was not until 1802 via a letter written by Thomas Jefferson that the term was used. It has since been referenced in decisions handed down from The Supreme Court of the U.S.

In no way was church or faith ever meant to be abolished from state. It was clear that The United States of America would not be a country where one man or woman could enforce a religious affiliation upon all of its citizens. Freedom to worship God however one pleased was VERY important to many of the founding fathers of The United States of America and as such...they protected it.

How then did the commonly held belief that church must be strictly separated from state come about? The answer...government.

Just as church and state have been separated to a large degree by government, so will the backbone of our society (moral virtue) be stripped away from each of us the more we depend on our government to rule us, instead of serve us.

The United States of America is supposed to have a government of the people, by the people and for the people. The more that it turns into a government that rules the people the more it will choke out the original society and moral virtue that The United States of America was founded upon. At that point, it will cease to be the greatest country on earth, but instead will be...just another country on earth.