This was the case in France; and against this species of despotism, proceeding on through an endless labyrinth of office till the source of it is scarcely perceptible, there is no mode of redress.
Paine argues in "Rights of Man" that when despotism becomes deeply embedded in a bureaucratic system, its origins are obscured, making redress nearly impossible.
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More from Thomas Paine
The man who is in the receipt of a million a year is the last person to promote a spirit of reform, lest, in the event, it should reach to himself.
It was a sort of new form of government that insensibly served to put the old one out of sight and to unhinge it from the superstitious authority of antiquity.
The American constitutions were to liberty what a grammar is to language: they define its parts of speech, and practically construct them into syntax.
When it becomes necessary to do anything, the whole heart and soul should go into the measure, or not attempt it.