On the Death of Queen Elizabeth II
signed, Tom Paine
”What is called the splendour of a throne is no other than the corruption of the state. It is made up of a band of parasites, living in luxurious indolence, out of the public taxes.”
Rights of Man
Chapter III
”As in my political works my motive and object have been to give man an elevated sense of his own character, and to free him from the slavish and superstitious absurdity of monarchy and hereditary government; so in my publications on religious subjects, my endeavors have been directed to bring man to a right use of the reason that God has given him; to impress on him the great principles of divine morality, justice, mercy, and a benevolent disposition to all men, and to all creatures, and to inspire in him a spirit of trust, confidence, and consolation in his Creator, unshackled by the fables of books pretending to be the word of God.”
Age of Reason
Part III
“Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.”
Common Sense
“… what is called monarchy, always appears to me a silly, contemptible thing. I compare it to something kept behind a curtain, about which there is a great deal of bustle and fuss, and a wonderful air of seeming solemnity; but when, by any accident, the curtain happens to be open — and the company see what it is, they burst into laughter.”
Rights of Man
Chapter II
“But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is, the distinction of men into KINGS and SUBJECTS. Male and female are the distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, is worth enquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.”
Common Sense
“Aristocracy is kept up by family tyranny and injustice.”
Part 1.3 Rights of Man
”The idea of hereditary legislators is as inconsistent as that of hereditary judges, or hereditary juries; and as absurd as an hereditary mathematician, or an hereditary wise man; and as ridiculous as an hereditary poet-laureat.”
Part 1.3 Rights of Man
Aristocracy has a tendency to degenerate the human species.
Part 1.3 Rights of Man
As Jordan Peterson recently stated, the "UK" brand of "parliamentary democracy" is the best system of government out there. It avoids the tendency found in some republics for citizenry to commingle patriotic fervor with their elected leaders - a dangerous mix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5os9bT9zuo