very nicely done

I thought I knew quite a lot about Paine. I stand corrected. The author has indeed made an irascible Paine into a very human figure. A veritable tormented soul, a clinically depressed, irascible alcoholic, who using his pluck, not only survived until 72 of age, but influenced the course of 2 nations. Whether his actions proved beneficial to either nation, ultimately salutory or not is for continued debate.

I think author did a remarkable job of describing the illiteracy, backwardness, ignorance, and low estate of those people in the 3 countries, England, France, and the U.S. I greatly question these people's ability to govern themselves. (I grew up in slums. My parents always voted for policies that increased their low estate.) It illustrates how easily the uneducated, generally uninformed people of the world, can be manipulated. A favorable answer to the question of whether this type of people, however pathetic and sympathy engendering their conditions arre, may not be WISE enough to intelligently govern themselves. Mao's successor, when asked about historical consequences were 200 years later, responded, presciently, "We don't know yet!"

Ben Franklin, in 1789, said, "We have made a republic, IF WE CAN KEEP IT." America's history, contary to commonly held myth, has had a very rocky , uneven course, with only a few highlights. After Russian revolution, putting Lenin in power, the Romanovs still actally governed Russia. The American mistake is that "anybody can govern." Not so. Though people may be legally BORN equal in Jeffersonian and Lockiaing theory, I greatly question the reality of that premise. To treat people equally is to treat them unfairly, for they are not equal. The rich are ALWAYS "more equal than the rest" in ALL of their dealings.

Plato understood well the plasticity of the masses, their propensity for being manipulation by the tawdry uthorblandishments of clever despots.

I am again reminded that the people of Paine's day were also manipulated by a group of wealthy, hot headed Bostonian smugglers. and disgruntled slave holding Virginians. Fiery clergyman Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death!" was not uttered for freedom of religion, but for freedom from British trade laws.

Though the author made Paine human, it does not serve as a hagiography.

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