New book explores Thomas Paine's legacy

Recommendable!

Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" and the Birth of a New World | The American Revolution

Recommendable! My blog is named after Thomas Paine's Common Sense!

The Fall of Thomas Paine: The Rights of Man and The Age of Reason

Recommendable!

Famous Thomas Paine Quotes

I am a great fan of Thomas Paine. Not least is my blog named after one of his famous publications. I will amend these quotes as time goes by.

'The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.''

"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. ..."

"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. The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind."

"The landholder, the farmer, the manufacturer, the merchant, the tradesman, and every occupation prospers by the aid which each receives from the other, and from the whole. Common interest regulates their concerns, and forms their laws; and the laws which common usage ordains, have a greater influence than the laws of government. In fine, society performs for itself almost everything that is ascribed to government."

The Forgotten Father of Western Democracy: Thomas Paine

Very recommendable! His life was very adventurous between England, America, and France! However, this biography video is almost 1.5 hours long!

A letter from Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Paine

Published by the Thomas Paine National Historic Association

The tone of this letter seems to be very cordial and typical Benjamin Franklin! He expressed his high regards for Thomas Paine!

"A Conjecture, not a Fact yet“
[Cravenstreet, (London) Dec. 13. 1757]

Dear Sir I have read your Manuscrit with some

Attention. By the Arguments it contains

against the Doctrine of a particular Providence,

tho’ you allow a general Providence, you strike

at the Foundation of all Religion: For without

the Belief of a Providence that takes

Cognizance of, guards and guides and may

favour particular Persons, there is no Motive to

Worship a Deity, to fear its Displeasure, or to

pray for its Protection. I will not enter into any

Discussion of your Principles, tho’ you seem to

desire it; At present I shall only give you my

Opinion that tho’ your Reasonings are subtle,

and may prevail with some Readers, you will

not succeed so as to change the general

Sentiments of Mankind on that Subject, and

the Consequence of printing this Piece will be

a great deal of Odium drawn upon your self,

Mischief to you and no Benefit to others. ....

You might easily display your excellent Talents

of reasoning on a less hazardous Subject, and

thereby obtain Rank with our most

distinguish’d Authors.....I would advise you

therefore not to attempt unchaining the Tyger,

but to burn this Piece before it is seen by any

other Person, whereby you will save yourself a

great deal of Mortification from the Enemies it

may raise against you, and perhaps a good

deal of Regret and Repentance. If Men are so

wicked as we now see them with Religion what

would they be if without it? I intend this Letter

itself as a Proof of my Friendship and therefore

add no Professions of it, but subscribe simply

Yours B.F. [Benjamin Franklin]

Endorsed: Rough of Letter dissuading ——

from publishing his Piece.”

[From the Franklin Papers at Yale]"

U.S. Senator James Lankford (R-OK) Urges Americans To Recall Thomas Paine's Words On Our Fight For Freedom This July 4th

Very recommendable! A tribute to Thomas Paine! It was none other than Benjamin Franklin who discovered the talents of this great man!

200 Business Leaders Call on Congress to Accept the Electoral College Results

Here is the who is who in business who oppose President Trump, the U.S. Constitution/Declaration of Independence. These so called business leaders have the audacity to defend a severely compromised election! These are nearly 200 feckless business misleaders! It is incredible! This election was anything but business as usual you morons!

Even the CEO of Pfizer, Inc signed this letter!

Will the U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives remain brave and courageous to resist this onslaught? We the people hope so!

A quick reminder to these 200 business misleaders:

"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. ..." Thomas Paine, The Crisis

CEOs Urge Congress to Certify Biden’s Electoral College Win Nearly 200 chief executives call on legislators to uphold ‘essential tenets of our democracy’ by enabling transition of power to president-elect

"This presidential election has been decided and it is time for the country to move forward. ...
There should be no further delay in the orderly transfer of power."

Business Leaders Call on Congress to Accept the Electoral College Results - Partnership for New York City

Sincerely,

William D. Abramson, Director of Brokerage, Buchbinder & Warren Realty Group LLC

Lee S. Ainslie, III, Managing Partner, Maverick Capital

Ellen Alemany, Chairman & CEO, CIT Group Inc.

Simon Allen, Chief Executive Officer, McGraw-Hill Education, Inc.

Leo Argiris, Principal & Chief Operating Officer, Americas Region, Arup

Jeffrey H. Aronson, Managing Principal, Centerbridge Partners

Ajay Banga, Executive Chairman, Mastercard

Neil Barr, Managing Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

Erin Barringer, Director, Dalberg Americas

Candace K. Beinecke, Senior Partner, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP

Charles R. Bendit, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Taconic Investment Partners LLC

Stephen Berger, Chairman, Odyssey Investment Partners, LLC

William H. Berkman, Co-Chairman & CEO, Radius Global Infrastructure, Inc.

Seth Bernstein, President & CEO, AB

David Beveridge, Senior Partner, Shearman & Sterling, LLP

Michael W. Blair, Presiding Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

Jeff T. Blau, Chief Executive Officer, The Related Companies, L.P.

Henry Blodget, CEO and co-founder, Insider Inc.

Kathy Bloomgarden, Chief Executive Officer, Ruder Finn, Inc.

Adam M. Blumenthal, Managing Partner, Blue Wolf Capital Partners

Neil Blumenthal, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Warby Parker

John Borthwick, Founder & CEO, Betaworks

Albert Bourla, Chairman & CEO, Pfizer Inc.

John Bruckner, President, NY, National Grid

Ari Buchalter, President & CEO, Intersection

Martin S. Burger, Chief Executive Officer, Silverstein Properties, Inc.

Donald A. Capoccia, Principal, BFC Partners

Richard M. Cashin, Managing Partner, One Equity Partners

Timothy Cawley, President & CEO, Con Edison, Inc.

Rodgin Cohen, Senior Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

David Coleman, Chief Executive Officer, The College Board

Anthony R. Coscia, Partner and Executive Committee Member, Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, LLP

Cromwell Coulson, President & CEO, OTC Markets Group

Todd C. DeGarmo, Chief Executive Officer, STUDIOS Architecture

Toby Dodd, President, New York Tri-State, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.

William R. Dougherty, Chairman, Executive Committee, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Brian Duperreault, Chief Executive Officer, American International Group, Inc.

Douglas Durst, Chairman, Durst Organization Inc.

Richard Edelman, President & CEO, Edelman

Scott A. Edelman, Chairman, Milbank LLP

Blair W. Effron, Co-Founder, Centerview Partners

Joel S. Ehrenkranz, Partner and Co-Founder, Ehrenkranz Partners L.P.

Douglas F. Eisenberg, Founder and CEO, A&E Real Estate, LLC

Catherine Engelbert, Commissioner, WNBA

Alexander Farman-Farmaian, Vice Chairman, Portfolio Manager, Edgewood Management LLC

Rob Fauber, President & Chief Executive Officer, Moody’s Corporation

Laurence D. Fink, Chairman & CEO, BlackRock

Peter Finn, Founding Partner, Finn Partners

John Fish, Chairman & CEO, Suffolk

Winston C. Fisher, Partner, Fisher Brothers

Alan H. Fishman, Founder, Willow Holdings, Inc.

William E. Ford, Chief Executive Officer, General Atlantic LLC

Paul Fribourg, Chairman & CEO, Continental Grain Company

Eric J. Friedman, Executive Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Jeff Gennette, Chairman & CEO, Macy’s, Inc.

Dave Gilboa, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Warby Parker

MaryAnne Gilmartin, Founder & CEO, MAG Partners LP

Dan Glaser, President & CEO, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.

Dexter Goei, Chief Executive Officer, Altice USA

Timothy Gokey, Chief Executive Officer, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.

Perry Golkin, Chief Executive Officer, PPC Enterprises LLC

Barry M. Gosin, Chief Executive Officer, Newmark Knight Frank

Jonathan D. Gray, President & COO, Blackstone

Jonathan N. Grayer, Chairman & CEO, Weld North LLC

Logan Green, Co-Founder & CEO, Lyft

David J. Greenwald, Chairman, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP

Kelly Grier, US Chair & Managing Partner and Americas Managing Partner, Ernst & Young LLP

Stewart KP Gross, Managing Director, Lightyear Capital

Robin Hayes, Chief Executive Officer, JetBlue Airways Corporation

Dale Hemmerdinger, Chairman, Atco Properties & Management, Inc.

Donna Imperato, Chief Executive Officer, BCW

Frederick J. Iseman, Chairman & CEO, CI Capital Partners LLC

Kenneth M. Jacobs, Chairman & CEO, Lazard Ltd

John Josephson, Chairman & CEO, Sesac

Roberta Kaplan, Founding Partner, Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP

Harry Kargman, Founder & CEO, Kargo

Alex Karp, CEO & Co-Founder, Palantir Technologies

Brad S. Karp, Chair, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

Charles R. Kaye, Chief Executive Officer, Warburg Pincus LLC

Anthony S. Kendall, Chairman & CEO, Mitchell & Titus, LLP

Richard A. Kennedy, President & CEO, Skanska USA Inc.

Michel A. Khalaf, President & CEO, MetLife, Inc.

Brian Kingston, CEO of Real Estate, Brookfield Asset Management

Paul Knopp, U.S. Chair & CEO, KPMG LLP

Henry R. Kravis, Co-Chairman & Co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

Philip Krim, Co-Founder & CEO, Casper

Barbara Armand Kushner, President, Armand Corporation

Christopher Larsen, Chief Executive Officer, Halmar International, LLC

William P. Lauder, Executive Chairman, The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc.

Rochelle B. Lazarus, Chairman Emeritus, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide

Kewsong Lee, Chief Executive Officer, The Carlyle Group

Rich Lesser, President & CEO, Boston Consulting Group

Joey Levin, Chief Executive Officer, IAC

Allan Levine, Chairman & CEO, Global Atlantic Financial Company

Jeffrey E. Levine, Chairman, Douglaston Development

Robert A. Levine, Chief Executive Officer, RAL Companies & Affiliates, LLC

Martin Lipton, Senior Partner, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Alex Liu, Managing Partner & Chairman, Kearney

Robert P. LoCascio, Founder & CEO, LivePerson, Inc.

Roger Lynch, Chief Executive Officer, Condé Nast

Mehdi Mahmud, CEO & President, First Eagle Investment Management, LLC

Anthony Malkin, Chairman, President & CEO, Empire State Realty Trust

Anthony E. Mann, President & CEO, E-J Electric Installation Co.

Theodore Mathas, Chairman & CEO, New York Life Insurance Company

Sandeep Mathrani, Chief Executive Officer, WeWork

Peter W. May, President & Founding Partner, Trian Partners

Charles R. McCall, Chief Executive Officer, Astoria Energy II LLC &, Astoria Energy LLC

Kevin J. McCarty, Chairman & CEO, West Monroe Partners

Andrew McMahon, President & CEO, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America

Avner Mendelson, President & CEO, Bank Leumi USA

Heidi Messer, Co-Founder & Chairperson, Collective[i]

Keith Mestrich, President & CEO, Amalgamated Bank

Marc Metrick, President & CEO, Saks Fifth Avenue

Edward J. Minskoff, Chairman & CEO, Edward J. Minskoff Equities, Inc.

Greg Mondre, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Silver Lake

Tyler Morse, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Partner, MCR Development LLC

Deanna M. Mulligan, Chief Executive Officer, DM Mulligan, LLC

Oscar Munoz, Executive Chairman, United Airlines, Inc.

Daniel Nardello, Chief Executive Officer, Nardello & Co. LLC

Liz Neumark, Chair & Founder, Great Performances

Mark Pearson, President & CEO, Equitable

Michael A. Peterson, Chairman & CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation

Michael Phillips, President, Jamestown Properties LLC

Charles E. Phillips, Jr., Chairman, Infor

Deirdre Quinn, Co-Founder & CEO, Lafayette 148 New York

Daniel Ramot, Co-Founder & CEO, Via

Steven L. Rattner, Chairman & CEO, Willett Advisors LLC

Scott H. Rechler, Chairman & CEO, RXR Realty LLC

Christiana Riley, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Bank Americas

John Romeo, Managing Partner, Oliver Wyman

James A. Rosenthal, Chief Executive Officer, BlueVoyant

Evan Roth, Co-Chief Executive Officer, BBR Partners, LLC

Michael I. Roth, Chairman & CEO, Interpublic Group

Steven Rubenstein, President, Rubenstein Communications, Inc.

Mitchell E. Rudin, Chairman & CEO, Savills Inc.

William C. Rudin, Co-Chairman & CEO, Rudin Management Company, Inc.

Kevin P. Ryan, Founder & CEO, AlleyCorp

Philip K. Ryan, Chairman, Swiss Re Americas

Timothy Ryan, U.S. Chair & Senior Partner, PwC

Faiza Saeed, Presiding Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP

Scott Salmirs, President & CEO, ABM Industries Inc.

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman & Co-CEO, Evercore Partners Inc.

Michael Schmidtberger, Partner & Chair of the Executive Committee, Sidley Austin LLP

Alan D. Schnitzer, Chairman & CEO, The Travelers Companies, Inc.

Alan D. Schwartz, Executive Chairman, Guggenheim Partners, LLC

Kathleen Shanahan, Chief Executive Officer, Turtle & Hughes, Inc.

Suzanne Shank, President & CEO, Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC

Joseph C. Shenker, Chair, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Tarek Sherif, Co-Founder & CEO, Medidata Solutions, Inc.

Jonathan Silvan, Chief Executive Officer, Global Strategy Group, LLC

Adam Silver, Commissioner, National Basketball Association

Joshua Silverman, Chief Executive Officer, Etsy, Inc.

Brad Smith, President, Microsoft

David M. Solomon, Chairman & CEO, Goldman Sachs

Jeffrey Solomon, Chair & CEO, Cowen

Rob Speyer, President & CEO, Tishman Speyer

Stephen J. Squeri, Chairman & CEO, American Express Company

Robert K. Steel, Chairman, Perella Weinberg Partners

Douglas C. Steiner, Chairman, Steiner Studios

Alan Suna, Chief Executive Officer, Silvercup Studios

Rajat Suri, Founder & CEO, Presto

Sanjay Swani, Managing Partner, Tailwind Capital

Steven R. Swartz, President & CEO, Hearst

Michael J. Sweeney, Executive Vice President; Eastern U.S. President, HNTB Corporation

Julie Sweet, Chief Executive Officer, Accenture

Paul J. Taubman, Chairman & CEO, PJT Partners Inc.

Owen D. Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Boston Properties

Wayne Ting, Chief Executive Officer, Lime

Gary M. Tischler, Founder & Managing Partner, Vanbarton Group LLC

Daniel R. Tishman, Vice Chairman, AECOM & Principal, Tishman Realty

Paul Todd, Chief Executive Officer, GLG

Jean-Marie Tritant, Chief Executive Officer, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

William B. Tyree, Managing Partner, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

Joseph Ucuzoglu, Chief Executive Officer, Deloitte

Robert Vecchio, Chief Executive Officer, LPI, Inc.

Ellis Verdi, President, DeVito/Verdi

James R. Wacht, President, Lee & Associates NYC

George H. Walker, Chairman & CEO, Neuberger Berman Group LLC

Robert E. Wankel, Chairman & CEO, The Shubert Organization, Inc.

Pamela S. Wasserstein, President, Vox Media

Charles Weinstein, Chief Executive Officer, EisnerAmper LLP

David Winter, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Standard Industries Inc.

Robert Wolf, Chief Executive Officer, 32 Advisors LLC

Kathryn S. Wylde, President & CEO, Partnership for New York City

Nina Zagat, Co-Founder, Zagat

Tim Zagat, Co-Founder, Zagat

Strauss Zelnick, Partner, ZMC

James Zelter, Co-President, Apollo Global Management, Inc.

John Zimmer, Co-Founder & President, Lyft

Thomas Paine The most valuable Englishman ever with Kenneth Griffith

Update 8/1/2021: I just watched these two episodes again! It is an excellent biography of Thomas Paine!

Very recommendable! Thomas Paine is probably one of the least known of the Founding Fathers of the U.S.!

Dedicated to the 4th of July 2020!

Not least my blog post is named in honor of one of Thomas Paine's most famous works! 

This biography of Thomas Paine claims that President Washington abandoned his friend Thomas Paine while he was incarcerated in a notorious French prison in Paris being on death row. It was only President Monroe who finally rescued Thomas Paine.

 1/2 Thomas Paine The most valuable Englishman ever. - YouTube

2/2 Thomas Paine The most valuable Englishman ever

Revolt in Washington: Americans Protest the Shutdown

Bravo! The American Dream coming alive again! The Founders would be proud!

"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. ... it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. ... " The Crisis by Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine and the Clarion Call for American Independence

Very recommendable!

Thomas Paine one of the least known and celebrated heroes of the American Revolution! Thomas Paine was quite a character! This blog is in honor of Thomas Paine!

Did you know that Paine was a tinkerer and inventor like Benjamin Franklin?

Or that he was the first Secretary of Foreign Affairs for the U.S.?

Did you know that as a member of the French national assembly after the revolution of 1789, he tried to save the king's life by defying Robespierre and suggesting to exile the king to the U.S., because he would be celebrated there as a supporter of the American Revolution?

Did you know that the first comprehensive biography of TP was perhaps not written before 1892 (Paine died in 1809)?

Famous Quotes About Government

Posted: 2/21/2014  Updated: 9/29/2016, 4/13/2015

Update Of 9/29/2016

But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.

James Madison

The Federalist No. 51

February 6, 1788

Update Of 4/13/15

How could I forget to add Frederic Bastiat:

“The State is the great fiction through which everyone endeavours to live at the expense of everyone else.”

(The State in Journal des débats (1848) par. 5.20)

Original & Updated

1. “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”
   (Thomas Paine, 1776, Common Sense)
2. That government is best which governs least!
   (Source in question)

These two principles should be taught and explained to all children of the world!

The United States was founded on these principles, but has long since abandoned them!

Common Sense By Thomas Paine – A Modern Reader

Background

What would Thomas Paine say today in light of more than 100 years of US Presidents and US Congresses ever more expanding the power of central government at the expense of individual liberty and free markets?

Where Thomas Paine used British examples, I have replaced with them contemporary US counterparts. I have also added emphasis.

Of the Origin and Design of Government in General, with Concise Remarks on the US Constitution

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.

[Comment: Thomas Paine would write exactly the same words today.]

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 our Presidents, Senators, and Representatives in Washington, DC are built upon the ruins of our liberty.

[Comment: The US is only 236 years old, but since about the turn of the 20^th century it has become more intolerable in Paine’s words. Too many Americans have become complacent and have forgotten that government is but a necessary evil.]

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.

[Comment: The US has become a cradle to grave welfare state in willful ignorance of the common sense of the Founders.]

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; and with this maxim in view I offer a few remarks on the so much boasted US constitution.

[Comment: I am not entirely sure what Thomas Paine was describing here, but I read it to mean the simpler government is the less complexity, entitlements, vested interests etc. there will be. The simpler, the easier it can be repaired. As we see today how do we fix a massive entitlement program like Social Security when all employees have to pay taxes into it and are expecting to receive their entitlements later in life?]

But the constitution, laws, and regulation of the US are so exceedingly complex, that the nation may suffer for years together without being able to discover in which part the fault lies; some will say in one and some in another, and every political physician will advise a different medicine.

[Comment: Thomas Paine nailed it down!]

To say that the US constitution is an UNION of three powers, reciprocally CHECKING each other, is farcical; either the words have no meaning, or they are flat contradictions.

[Comment: Thomas Paine would write that about the sad state of affairs in the US, which has developed over many decades. Just take the absurd ObamaCare decision of the US Supreme Court.]

First. — That the US President is not to be trusted without being looked after; or in other words, that a thirst for absolute power is the natural disease of the US Presidency.

[Comment: How true!]

Secondly. — That the US Representatives and Senators, by being appointed for that purpose, are either wiser or more worthy of confidence than the US President.

[Comment: How much are our elected representatives really worthy of our confidence?]

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

[Comment: Right on!]

That the US President has become this overbearing part in the US constitution needs not be mentioned, and that it derives its whole consequence merely from being the giver of places and pensions is self-evident; wherefore, though we have been wise enough to shut and lock a door against absolute power, we at the same time have been foolish enough to put the US President in possession of the key.

[Comment: Are constitutional term limits on the presidency enough?]

Wherefore, laying aside all national pride and prejudice in favour of modes and forms, the plain truth is that IT IS WHOLLY OWING TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PEOPLE, AND NOT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT that the US government is not as oppressive as in other parts of the world.

And as a man who is attached to a prostitute is unfitted to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in favour of a rotten constitution of government will disable us from discerning a good one.

[Comment: The US has an exceptionally good constitution, but powerful forces within the US have derided and undermined it for decades. Just ask US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg about that.]

Why Did I Come To The U.S.?

Good Company

Before me there was Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Eakins, Thomas Alva Edison and others whose name I forgot to mention here. I am in good company. My father told me that I was named after someone else, but he was a big fan of Thomas Jefferson.

Trust In Taxpayers

The US income tax system relies on taxpayers to self-report their income for tax purposes. To submit any supporting documents with the tax return is basically not required. Tax audits are infrequent. Thus, Uncle Sam trusts its citizens like not many other governments.

Ultimate Checks & Balances

The founders of the German constitution omitted to include a 2^nd Amendment (or the right to bear arms).