the Pain of Paine

Yo,

So here comes yet another post about how I didn’t comprehend the reading and how I feel like a complete idiot and reject.

I will admit this right now. The first few chapters of the book are complete write offs for me because I can’t recall one thing he said. I know he addressed George Washington and pretty much fan girled all over him, but that is all I got out of it.

I think I can summarize what he said in all those chapters in one sentence: Monarchies suck and America is the best.

That made me think: We all now insult America for thinking that they are the best country in the world, even though they have major societal issues. However, if you look at it, how does the USA have such a big ego”? because outsiders in monarchist countries who thought that Republics were the best. So really can we blame the USA that much?

It wasn’t until his last chapter that I bought into his argument (PS I love monarchies so everyone can just cut it out) The usage of going step by step and looking at the taxes and better/cheaper ways of maintain the country was super fascinating.

Once again I don’t have all that much to say about Paine because he is just a pain.

3 thoughts on “the Pain of Paine

  1. The first part of the text IS difficult if you haven’t read Burke, so don’t feel like an idiot! That’s why I spent some time on Burke’s argument in lecture–hopefully that will help when you go back and think about what he’s saying in reply to Burke. It would be interesting to discuss in seminar a bit what is great/not great about monarchies, and what the value is for Canada, for example, in having a constitutional monarchy of sorts.

    On another note, could you reactivate the plugin that allows those who make comments to check a box to get an email if there are replies? Go to your dashboard, then to “plugins,” then activate the one called “subscribe to comments.” Thanks!

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