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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If, therefore, the good to be obtained be worthy of a passive, rational, and costless revolution, it would be bad policy to prefer waiting for a calamity that should force a violent one.
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