RETHINK: AN ANALYSIS OF PAINES COMMON SENSE - Research Paper Example

One of the central themes that revolve around this pamphlet is how the government creates stratification and restricts vices among its people. Paine wrote, “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.” (Paine). More so, he points out that the constitution leads the people but the constitution of the government is rotten and this cripples the society of the capability to make good decisions and establish a better future for its self.

As Paine establishes the wickedness of establishing a government, he also described the even more wicked form of it – that is monarchy, a form of government ruled by a single individual. Since Paine finds the government as a necessary evil, the act of having a king as a head of the government even makes it more malevolent as government per se. According to Paine, “there is another and greater distinction for which no truly natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is, the distinction of men into KINGS and SUBJECTS” (Paine).

He pointed out that men and women were distinct by nature and that good and bad were distinct by heaven. He understands that the distinction of the rich and poor have been triggered by various circumstances yet, he questions the ways and reasons how have this distinction – Kings and Subjects – had been conceived. This is because even monarchy’s religious origin was from sin. Paine establishes the point that all men were naturally created equal and no birth of one man shall establish a greater honour or degree.

“By appropriating theological concepts and translating sovereign authority from the religious to the civil sphere, Paine helped to facilitate a conceptual shift in the political discourse from the common law tradition to a natural rights paradigm”(Di Lorenzo). Indeed, the pamphlet was sought “to stir emotion and to ensure that every relevant nuance of the situation was understood by every potential citizen of the envisioned nation” (Holmes). He clearly mentioned in his conclusion four things which the Americans would want to consider in order to spark a revolution from the British.

Paine mentioned that the certainty of America’s waiting for a mediator to free them from the British colonizers is very unlikely. This is due to the fact the even the world powers of Spain or France Paine will also suffer from the consequences of meddling with the British. Paine acknowledges the Americans’ effort on pulling off peace talks and reconciliation with the British Government but also states the fact that the Americans are not given the chance to be freed despite all these. Paine wrote that “not being able.

to live happily or safely under the cruel disposition of the British court, we had been driven to the necessity of breaking off all connections with her” (Paine). Furthermore, he asserts that “the American colonies had grown to the point where dependence on Great Britain was a hindrance to smooth governmental functioning” (Holmes). Britain, as the world power at that time, had always been involved in world wars to further expand their colonial powers and territories. Because of this, America, as the former’s colony, had suffered from unstable social and economic state. This is