...American sentiment of robust skepticism regarding the role of the government in the Social Compact: [G]overnment even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one . . . Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of the kings are built on...

...spending that is out of control, and issues the government will not resolve. Thomas Paine warned us, "Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one." George Washington expressed the same sentiment when he said, "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence,...

...year, when PAINE wrote that well-known phrase about the state and its representing government that is 'even in its best state is but a necessary evil in its worst state an intolerable one" (PAINE 1776, SI). Therefore the experience of authority and colonial capriciousness ought not to return...

...recent attitude. Before the Great Depression, most Americans agreed with Thomas Paine's statement, "Government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one."9 "A government in which the majority rule in all cases cannot be based on justice," said Henry...

...happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. . . . Society in every state is a blessing . . . but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil. The popularity of Common Sense suggests that it appealed to a deep belief that natural rights united...

...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 a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.6 In part 1 of his Rights of Man (1791), a...