"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; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer..." (Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776). See full text from his pamphlet at http://www.ushistory.org/paine/commonsense/sense2.htm
Do you agree with Thomas Paine that government is a necessary evil? Why or why not?