Give to any man a million a year, and add thereto the power of creating and disposing of places, at the expense of a country, and the liberties of that country are no longer secure.
Thomas Paine: “Give to any man a million a year, and add thereto the power of creating and disposing of places, at the expense of a…”
Editor's note · Context
Paine cautions that the combination of vast personal wealth and the power to distribute public offices endangers a nation's liberties.
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The animosity of the English nation, it is very well remembered, ran high; and, had the true principles of Liberty been as well understood then as they now promise to be, it is probable the Nation would not have patiently submitted to so…
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