Many have certain philosophies that push people to think beyond what they know.

Some
philosophies are more accurate than others. Thomas Paine was a philosopher who had
supported Americas independence from their home country. He believed america was a perfect
place where all could be free and flaws were not evident. Although Paines ideals of our nation
seem to stand true to this day, a majority of his opinions in actuality do not apply as much as
they may have before.
Although Paine believed that issues based on cultural and religious differences were
diminished by constructing government on the principles of society, in truth, problems
inevitably rose no matter the laws and restrictions created to prevent them. In contrast, many
who believe that Paines views contain relevance today trust that unifying people with different
ways of life for the same reason of freedom and liberty would all would get along quite easily.
The government of the nation was created to protect the rights of its citizens to guarantee
equality for all so that quarrels eventually dissipated or never came to be all together. This
seems to be enough for all to set aside their differences for a similar cause, however,
discrimination against African Americans proves otherwise. They were originally brought to
America to work as slaves, and once they were guaranteed freedom they were discriminated
against still. It appears to some the problem had been taken care of by more laws, but
discrimination lingers on. Now does it really seem that every difficulty retires? It doesn't appear
so. There are movements created. There are protests and riots held. There are speeches told.
The United States government obviously hasnt done enough to stop this ongoing issue. The
differences of certain whites against blacks and other races alike are not dissolved for similar
views of freedom. These issues still stand even after a hundred years. Paines idea of a just
government is completely inaccurate.
The struggle of receiving acceptance of gay rights further disqualifies Paines position.
Due to certain religious views against the nontraditional choices people make of who they love,
more complications have taken hold. Just as in discrimination against other races, discrimination
against gay people have also arose. They were and are still put in positions of inequality even
after certain laws were created to eliminate these issues. There is no way Paine's idea of
cordial unison exists today. Inequality exists in our nation defying our all of our founding
principles. Rebellion in the form of protests and riots really showcases how much our
government has affected society and the people in it in a negative way.
Even though it is believed the government was perfected solely for the good of
the people, it, in reality, contains many flaws that would result in much resistance,
engender[ing] riots and tumults. In Americas past, people have been elected into different
government positions by promising their voters they would be placed in high ranking political
jobs once they have won. This corrupted way is called the spoils system. Seems pretty
wretched to me. Sure the formal ways of the spoils system were eliminated, but bribery and
manipulation still slip their ways through government's so called just laws so they can easily be
used to people's advantage. That is not fair to others as they are unable to step around the
limitations set before them supposedly created to protect the rights of all.
An equally corrupting act takes place in economics: monopolies and trusts. Hated
and resented by all but the wealthy, monopolies were created by taking out all competition of
one industry to become the dominant one. They then rose the prices of their products as they
knew certain poor farmers and small business owners would need it. Time and time again,
many attempts were taken to eliminate them, but government officials were constantly bribed
and manipulated to let the trust owners keep their way of business. Didnt Paine believe the
government is just[,]... the poor are not oppressed, [and] the rich are not privileged? Doesnt
seem that way to me. If the government really was to protect the rights of all, they would have
eliminated them when these corporations were at their peak.
If Paines ideas of how our nation is composed were accurate today, our lives would be
ones of luxury and sheer happiness. Problems due to limited protection of certain rights would
not exist and all would live lighthearted easygoing lives. America would stand as an accurate
representation of a light of salvation for all to come to. Because Paines high standard views of
America do not in any way hold true in life today, the idea that a perfect world could ever exist is
ultimately eliminated.