Thanks for your reply, my friend, and apologies for the tardy reply (I've been a bit "under the weather." I think I understand your criticism very well and that it stems from a semantic difference in use of the word "security." Paine was not, after all, encumbered with the negative statist inflections of the term that we use today ie. the security state. When we read a text from history, sometimes it can be tricky to leave aside our own vocabulary and search for the meaning of the writer. Paine meant PRECISELY safety and security FROM overweaning and oppressive government ... and specifically from war-mongers. He meant the only kind of authentic security - safety, equality, justice, and freedom from want. I believe that is the sense in which he used the word "security." Thanks again for commenting.
Thanks for your reply, my friend, and apologies for the tardy reply (I've been a bit "under the weather." I think I understand your criticism very well and that it stems from a semantic difference in use of the word "security." Paine was not, after all, encumbered with the negative statist inflections of the term that we use today ie. the security state. When we read a text from history, sometimes it can be tricky to leave aside our own vocabulary and search for the meaning of the writer. Paine meant PRECISELY safety and security FROM overweaning and oppressive government ... and specifically from war-mongers. He meant the only kind of authentic security - safety, equality, justice, and freedom from want. I believe that is the sense in which he used the word "security." Thanks again for commenting.