On the recordJanuary 1, 1791
It is over the lowest class of mankind that government by terror is intended to operate, and it is on them that it operates to the worst effect.
Said by
Thomas Paine
Source
gutenberg.orgIt is over the lowest class of mankind that government by terror is intended to operate, and it is on them that it operates to the worst effect.
From "Rights of Man," Paine observes that governance by terror primarily targets the lowest classes of society, where it produces the most detrimental effects.
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Reason and discussion, persuasion and conviction, become the weapons in the contest, and it is only when those are attempted to be suppressed that recourse is had to violence.
Why may we not suppose, that the great Father of all is pleased with variety of devotion; and that the greatest offence we can act, is that by which we seek to torment and render each other miserable?
As to what are called national religions, we may, with as much propriety, talk of national Gods.