Discussion and the general will arbitrates the question, and to this, private opinion yields with a good grace, and order is preserved uninterrupted.
Thomas Paine: “Discussion and the general will arbitrates the question, and to this, private opinion yields with a good grace, and…”
Editor's note · Context
From "Rights of Man," Paine explains how public discussion and the general will lead to peaceful resolution in a new system of government.
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Never did so great an opportunity offer itself to England, and to all Europe, as is produced by the two Revolutions of America and France.
Nations, like individuals, who have long been enemies, without knowing each other, or knowing why, become the better friends when they discover the errors and impositions under which they had acted.
When all the governments of Europe shall be established on the representative system, nations will become acquainted, and the animosities and prejudices fomented by the intrigue and artifice of courts, will cease.
The oppressed soldier will become a freeman; and the tortured sailor, no longer dragged through the streets like a felon, will pursue his mercantile voyage in safety.