On the recordJanuary 1, 1791
Public measures appeal of themselves to the understanding of the Nation, and, resting on their own merits, disown any flattering applications to vanity.
Said by
Thomas Paine
Source
gutenberg.orgPublic measures appeal of themselves to the understanding of the Nation, and, resting on their own merits, disown any flattering applications to vanity.
From his work "Rights of Man," Paine describes how public policy in a true republic should be judged on its merits rather than through manipulation.
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In fine, society performs for itself almost everything which is ascribed to government.
The object is not so much the produce of the tax as the justice of the measure.
The Parliaments on their part insisted that they had not only a right to remonstrate, but to reject; and on this ground they were always supported by the nation.