The Rights of Man is a riposte to Edmund Burke's criticism of the French Revolution. Its message is the superiority of reason, in the form of Republican government armed with the Declaration of the Rights of Man, over despotism which holds populations in ignorance. With the American and French revolutions fresh in his mind, Paine was writing in a
world on the threshold of freedom and that comes through in his forceful and forthright style. That said, and most important for the reader to appreciate, much of what he has to say still applies today. Paine in scathing in his critique of
hereditary monarchy and privilege. He says the idea of hereditary legislation is.......as absurd as an hereditary mathematician, or an hereditary wise man. He rejects the notion of government laws being justified by tradition and therefore irrevocable. His argument against Burke's defense of the 1688 revolution in England is perhaps the best in the book. Paine argues that the only thing that is truly hereditary is the Rights of Man : The Rights of men in society, are neither devisable, nor transferable, nor annihilable, but descendible only. The
book is a superb polemic when both understood in its historical context and applied to world politics today. His arguments for reform of the House of Lords strike a particularly pertinent note. He expresses liberal doctrines that many people take for granted but in our own genocidal
times Paine reminds us that many of the topics that impassioned him should continue to impassion everyone with an interest in humanity. The
style of the writing may put off a few as many themes disappear and reappear throughout the book instead of being dealt with in a coherent whole. The fact that it was written in two parts and that he is one of the greatest pamphleteers of modern times should compensate for this minor irritation.
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