Agrarian Justice By Thomas Paine Analysis

Agrarian Justice written in 1795, Thomas Paine states,
“Personal property is the effect of society; and it is as impossible for an individual to acquire personal property without the aid of society, as it is for him to make land originally. Separate an individual from society… and he cannot acquire personal property… So inseparably are the means connected with the end, in all cases, that where the former do not exist the latter cannot be obtained. All accumulation, therefore, of personal property, beyond what a man’s own hands produce, is derived to him by living in society; and he owes on every principle of justice, of gratitude, and of civilization, a part of that accumulation back again to society from whence the whole came.” Paine seemed …show more content…
This, combined with the Housing Act of 1937, which set out to subsidize public housing and bring the impoverished out of slums, follows in the social-democratic legacy of Paine’s conception of the requirement for government to provide housing and the ability to work for their livelihood to those unable to become employed …show more content…
Initially it was met with criticism by Roosevelt’s opponents in Congress. “A Republican senator from Delaware claimed that Social Security would "end the progress of a great country and bring its people to the level of the average European." As of 2013, Social Security costs account for 37 percent of federal expenditures, and is one of the largest social programs in the world. Its primary tenet is essentially the redistribution of wealth via governmental collection, to the poor; making Social Security nearly entirely a socialist