Paine used Common Sense as a great tool to let the commoners and less educated to gain some insight on the role and purpose of government. Firstly, Paine makes a distinction between government and society. Paine states: “Society is everything constructive and good that people join together to accomplish. Government, on the other hand, is an institution whose sole purpose is to protect us from our own vices. Government has its origins in the evil of man and is therefore a necessary evil at best.” He goes on to say that “government's sole purpose is to protect life, liberty and property, and that a government should be judged solely on the basis of the extent to which it accomplishes this goal.” Basically, Paine is stating to the common people that they have the opportunity to form their own representation of government and do it in a way that truly represents their wants and needs.
He composed his pamphlet utilizing vernacular and simple ideas, targeting the common man. This was an unusual, yet appropriate, technique for the Enlightenment era. His pamphlet outlined the flaws and disadvantages of a monarchial government such as the government imposed on America by England. He also portrayed the advantages of severing all governmental ties with England. Paine discusses generic topics of an ideal and properly functioning government.
Rigobero Chavarin English 10 11/08/12 What are the principles rulers of the people should follow? Thomas Jefferson defines his interpretation of the rights and freedom of the people within the Declaration of Independence; however, even if a government under those elements and Jefferson’s conception were developed, history would repeat itself, thus making the people live under the principles of Machiavelli. As Machiavelli said, there’s a difference between the way we ought to live and the way we do live. Niccolo Machiavelli would find Jefferson’s concept of ideal government absolutely useless and antagonistic towards his aspect of government, which he defines as reality. Machiavelli would find Jefferson’s skepticism of immoral justification and Tyranny within the British government as antithetical towards his belief in successful power.
Natural law is one of the most major philosophical and political influences on the Declaration of Independence. Many people interpret the natural law in extremely different ways. Thomas Hobbes believed man cannot survive in a “natural state” without rule or government. He believed it was the government’s job to tightly enforce the people or the people would turn to chaos. Locke believed the power of the government came from the people and if the people are not happy with government actions then they have every right to overthrow the government.
However he believes this is limited and that it has negative and counterproductive issues. One of Marx's pieces on emancipation is his writing on the Jews called “On The Jewish Question.” This piece looks into the differences between the two forms, human and political. Political emancipation is important to the Jews because they argue they deserve freedom in the state. Bruno Bauer however believes that Jews should not be given emancipation as Jews, as long as the state is Christian. This raises the question of true political emancipation because true political emancipation does not have religion incorporated.
He says the reason for this distinction, could most likely be due to sin. The words Paine uses to suggest the distinction between King and Subject is unnatural include: misery, evil, insult, unwise, unjust, degradation, ridicule, and injustice. In Paine's opinion, the problem with hereditary succession is that as power is passed down it is given to the person only based on the fact that they are the next generation "royalty." Since intelligence and leadership equalities are not take into consideration, people could be ruled by a fool, someone not fit for their country.
When Europe finally emerged out of the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, Europeans despised everything about the Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages, queens and kings were decided by “divine power” which opposes the notion of rulership in Machiavelli’s The Prince. Erasmus, another key player in the Renaissance, once stated, “Men are made, not born” which totally contradicts the idea of divine power. Another new idea Machiavelli developed in The Prince that goes against Middle age thought was to use soldiers that one possesses in their state, instead of using mercenaries or auxiliary soldiers. In the Renaissance, the humility of the Middle Ages was completely thrown out, only to be replaced with people wearing extravagant clothing and consuming themselves in their image.
Similarly, if the government does not fulfill the needs of the people, it should be dissolved and replaced with other form of government which people think is the best. Locke’s treatment of property is known as one of the most important contributions in political thought, but it is also one of the aspects of his thought that has been most heavily criticized. Locke defines political power as the right to make laws for the protection and regulation of property, in his view these laws only work because the people accept them and because they are for the public good. Locke claimed that the earth itself can be considered as a property of all the people in the world to use for their survival and benefit by natural reasons. However, Locke also critically claimed about individual property, he says that in order to existence for individual property there must be a way for individuals to take possession of the things around them.
The Anti-Federalists’ strongest argument, however, was that the Constitution lacked a Bill of Rights. The Anti-Federalists warned that without a Bill of Rights, a strong national government might take away the human rights won in the Revolution. They had great apprehension about the potential loss of sovereignty through the power given to the national government in the proposed Constitution and the resulting horrific effects that such a loss would have on the nation and the people as a whole. The Anti-Federalist belief was that through the integrity of state sovereignty, effective restraints would be in place to keep the national government from deteriorating into a despotic government thus protecting the liberties and freedoms of the people. Anti-Federalist felt that the Constitution gave more power to central government and less to the states.
Tocqueville argues that the only thing which will keep Americans away from these dangers, which would undoubtedly lead to despotism is religion as source of moral education. He says that all decisions by man are a result of the values which man has received from god and without these values we would be left to a life full of disorder. Religion indirectly affects the state through mores which are described as “the whole moral and intellectual state of a people.”(287) These mores are what prevents democracies from being engulfed by the dangers which are products of tyranny and despotism. In a state without religion “each man gets into the way of having nothing but confused and changing notions about the matters of greatest importance to himself and his fellows”(444) and when combating materialism, the presence of religion “places the