Retaining, then, democracy as the ground, and rejecting the corrupt systems of monarchy and aristocracy, the representative system naturally presents itself; remedying at once the defects of the simple democracy as to form, and the incapacity of the other two with respect to knowledge.
In "Rights of Man," Paine advocates for the representative system as a superior form of government, combining the strengths of democracy while overcoming its limitations and those of monarchy and aristocracy.
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The Aristocracy had hitherto opposed the despotism of the Court, and affected the language of patriotism; but it opposed it as its rival (as the English Barons opposed King John) and it now opposed the nation from the same motives.
He must now show that every one in the line of hereditary succession was a Solomon, or his title is not good to be a king.
I know the value of moral instruction, and I have seen the danger of the contrary.
Whether robbery shall be banished from courts, and wretchedness from countries?