Rights of Man is More Relevant Now than Ever 

By Frances Chiu

Edited excerpt from “Here’s to Tom Paine — the Forgotten Founding Father,” originally published on Medium, June 10, 2024.

In 1789, Thomas Paine wrote to his American friend, Kitty Few Nicholson: 

A thousand years hence (for I must indulge in a few thoughts), perhaps in less, America maybe what England now is!…When we contemplate the fall of empires and the extinction of nations of the ancient world, we see but little to excite our regret than the mouldering ruins of pompous palaces, magnificent monuments…. of the most costly workmanship. But when the empire of America shall fall, the subject for contemplative sorrow will be infinitely greater than crumbling brass or marble can inspire. It will not then be said, here stood a temple of vast antiquity…. but here, ah painful thought! the noblest work of human wisdom, the grandest scene of human glory, the fair cause of freedom rose and fell! 

Today, 235 years later, we grapple with the same freedom issues confronting Paine and his British contemporaries. We may even say the situation is worse, given our knowledge and seemingly more abundant resources.

There’s little doubt Paine would probably be deeply disappointed with his adopted country — its downfall arriving much sooner than he anticipated. 

Much of what Paine wrote in Rights of Man about 18th century Britain fits 21st century America: 

When, in countries that are called civilised, we see age going to the workhouse and youth to the gallows, something must be wrong in the system of government. It would seem, by the exterior appearance of such countries, that all was happiness; but there lies hidden from the eye of common observation, a mass of wretchedness, that has scarcely any other chance, than to expire in poverty or infamy…. 

Civil government does not exist in executions; but in making such provision for the instruction of youth and the support of age, as to exclude, as much as possible, profligacy from the one and despair from the other. Instead of this, the resources of a country are lavished upon kings, upon courts, upon hirelings, impostors and prostitutes; and even the poor themselves, with all their wants upon them, are compelled to support the fraud that oppresses them. 

British Whig and Tory members of Parliament then pulled the strings of government with their riches. Today, American Democratic and Republican members of Congress (mostly millionaires and billionaires) continue the charade that social and economic equity prevails, that anyone can go from “rags to riches.” 

The U.S. pay-to-play system makes all candidates rely on their personal wealth and contributions from their deep-pocket donors. This guarantees only the voices of the rich are heard. Citizens United opened the door wide to corporate donations. 

Paine would not have been surprised. After all, he observed that: 

A change of ministers amounts to nothing. One goes out, another comes in, and still the same measures, vices, and extravagances are pursued. It signifies not who is minister. The defect lies in the system. The foundation and superstructure of the government is bad. Prop it as you please, it continually sinks and ever will.

The perception of a government rigged for the elites can explain both Occupy Wall Street in 2011 and the January 6, 2021 melee at the White House, where many had faced financial insecurity across the past decades. Again, Paine’s words are prescient: 

As a great mass of the community are thrown thereby into poverty and discontent, they are constantly on the brink of commotion… Whatever the apparent cause of any riots may be, the real one is always want of happiness. It shows that something is wrong in the system of government that injures the felicity by which society is to be preserved. 

I believe it’s no accident that current social beliefs and trends uncannily reflect those in the 18th and 19th centuries. Many Americans still believe that assistance to the poor encourages sloth. Meanwhile, there is little interest in funding public K-12 education or in making higher education more affordable. 

We are fully ensconced in 18th century style nepotism, indicated by the recently coined term, “nepobaby.” The idea of meritocracy is almost as much a sham today as it was back then. 

If Instagram and Tiktok offer clues, we still venerate “Old Money” as much as characters in any Jane Austen novel. Let’s not forget that the very ideas of old money in America is racist — given centuries of slavery while prohibiting immigration from Asia — for only whites were allowed to accumulate great wealth. 

If the top one percent chooses to blindly immerse themselves in the 18th century, perhaps it’s time for the rest of us to revisit Paine’s Rights of Man and right the wrongs ourselves. 

Enough is enough!