Paine Vs. Marx

The debate over the distribution of property and the unnatural inequality it produces has long troubled political thinkers, as Jean-Jacques Rousseau mused in his Discourse on the Origins of Inequality: It is obviously contrary to the law of nature, however it may be defined for a child to command an old man, for an imbecile to lead a wise man, and for a handful of people to gorge themselves on superfluities while the starving multitude …

…in peace and safety, and with the least possible expense. When these things are accomplished, all the objects for which government ought to be established are answered." (Paine, p. 136) Marx believed that government could transform men into angels who would work as altruists for the common good, but Paine realized government was unable to create that which it was incapable of manifesting itself; for the government was not God, and its citizens far from angels.