Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Thomas Paine: 1662

...They believed that since they held the power over benefit and harm, there was nothing wrong in taking for themselves all the benefits and imposing on others all the harm. They made it so no man dared to live for himself or look to his own interests...

...Thus he who does the greatest harm in the world is none other than the prince....

...Now men hate their prince, look on him as a "mortal foe," call him "just another guy."...
--From Waiting for the Dawn--

You can even have this problem in a Democracy, because "the people" are an abstract concept. Everyone can tell if a prince is being enriched, but who can say for sure if "the people" are benefiting from their governance?

I suppose in lieu of a prince we have to look at the representatives and beurocrats who run a country. Do they have a sense of entitlement and hubris or of humbleness and thrift? That I think, is a good way to judge any government's worth.

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