Thomas Paine · Politics
Late in life Paine made a startling argument: because the earth was once the common property of all, those who profit from owning land owe the dispossessed a ground-rent - paid as a universal inheritance and pension as a matter of right.
You learned that Paine grounded a system of payments in the claim that the earth was originally common property. In your own words, why did he call these payments a matter of right rather than charity?
Leads to Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
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