Common Sense

Of the origin and design of government in general. With concise remarks on the English constitution

Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the later negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.

Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one... .

Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776 [emphases in original]

Full text here.

They sure had some silly ideas back in the crappy olden days, didn't they?