Thought for the day
August 4th, 2006
When it shall be said in any country in the world, “My poor are happy; neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive; the rational world is my friend, because I am a friend of happiness”: when these things can be said, then may that country boast of its constitution and its government.
Courtesy of Thomas Paine. (I’m currently reading Thomas Paine and the Promise of America by Harvey J. Kaye.