When A Beggar Asks Us For A

There Are Two Methods, Or Means, And Only Two, Whereby Man's Needs And Desires Can Be Satisfied. One Is The Production And Exchange Of Wealth; This Is The Economic Means. The Other Is The Uncompensated Appropriation Of Wealth Produced By Others; This Is The Political Means.

Americans Have A Strange Notion That The Ordinary Laws Of Economics Do Not Apply To Them. So Doubtless They Will Think They Are Prosperous If The Boom Starts, And That Deficits And Indebtedness Are Merely Signs Of How Prosperous They Are.

It Is Unfortunately None Too Well Understood That, Just As The State Has No Money Of Its Own, So It Has No Power Of Its Own.

If You Do Not Want The State To Act Like A Criminal, You Must Disarm It As You Would A Criminal; You Must Keep It Weak. The State Will Always Be Criminal In Proportion To Its Strength; A Weak State Will Always Be As Criminal As It Can Be, Or Dare Be, But If It Is Kept Down To The Proper Limit Of Weakness - Which, By The Way, Is A Vast Deal Lower Limit Than People Are Led To Believe - Its Criminality May Be Safely Got On With.

It Would Seem That In Paine's View The Code Of Government Should Be That Of The Legendary King Pausole, Who Prescribed But Two Laws For His Subjects, The First Being, Hurt No Man, And The Second, Then Do As You Please.