paine vs. burke.

Thomas Paine's From Rights of Man is a wonderful counterargument to Edmund Burkes From Reflections on the Revolution in France, and I believe is also the most persuasive argument of them all. In his phamplet, Paine argues that no one government contains all the power. He also argues that laws and principles of past leaders and governments should not be passed down through the future leaders, and just that is the reason for the French Revolution. Paine states, "It was not against Louis the XVIth, but against the despotic principles of the government, that the nation revolted ... and they were become too deeply rooted to be removed, and the augean stable of parasites and plunders too abominably filthy to be cleansed by anything short of a complete and universal revolution." So by passing down these principles from leader to leader there are only reprecussions for the latter and not the former. And with that being said, Paine gives his strong belief that every new leader should have his own beliefs and principles.