Very interesting. I have great admiration for Thomas Paine and his contributions during the American Revolution and the Rights of Man. I think his social remedies layed out in "The Rights of Man" and "Agrarian Justice" must be viewed in the context of the time. He was most certainly concerned for the freedom of individuals. Good stuff. It was good to see you with Nick Hagen. Take care.
Paine is interesting. I, too, admire his role in the American Revolution. "When in the course of human events..."
However, later he became enamored with the French Revolution and I believe became more statist. Rousseau, of course, began from the premise that "man is born free and is everywhere in chains" and ended at the tyranny of the general will. I haven't read Yuval Levin's The Great Debate, but he sets up Burke and Paine as representing rival threads in the Anglo-American tradition of classical liberalism which would become more defined as right and left. The left often begins from premises about autonomy and liberation and ends by rejecting libertarianism and embracing statism. But even then, the left-wing strains of classical liberalism stop short of Marxism or Jacobinism.
But I haven't read much of Paine, so I won't comment further on him. None of the Founders really map perfectly onto American right and left, and there is much to admire in almost all of them.
Very interesting. I have great admiration for Thomas Paine and his contributions during the American Revolution and the Rights of Man. I think his social remedies layed out in "The Rights of Man" and "Agrarian Justice" must be viewed in the context of the time. He was most certainly concerned for the freedom of individuals. Good stuff. It was good to see you with Nick Hagen. Take care.
Glad you liked the interview.
Paine is interesting. I, too, admire his role in the American Revolution. "When in the course of human events..."
However, later he became enamored with the French Revolution and I believe became more statist. Rousseau, of course, began from the premise that "man is born free and is everywhere in chains" and ended at the tyranny of the general will. I haven't read Yuval Levin's The Great Debate, but he sets up Burke and Paine as representing rival threads in the Anglo-American tradition of classical liberalism which would become more defined as right and left. The left often begins from premises about autonomy and liberation and ends by rejecting libertarianism and embracing statism. But even then, the left-wing strains of classical liberalism stop short of Marxism or Jacobinism.
But I haven't read much of Paine, so I won't comment further on him. None of the Founders really map perfectly onto American right and left, and there is much to admire in almost all of them.