Part 1 of Essay
. By Thomas Paine. Edited with an Introduction by Isaac Kramnic. (New York: Penguin Books, 1986). Recently, I acquired a copy of Thomas Paine’s most recent patriotic pamphlet, entitled . I was immediately interested in what Paine had to say in his new work, after such powerful previous works, such as The Crisis series ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... to tax us simply because we are more productive. Paine makes his contempt for the current system of government quite clear early on. "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 even we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamities is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer." (65) Paine cle ....