“The wrong which began a thousand years ago is as much a wrong
as if it had begun today, and the right which originates today is
as much a right as if it had the sanction of a thousand years.
Time with respect to principle is an eternal now; it has no operation on them,
it changes nothing of their nature and qualities. But what have we to do with
a thousand years? Our lifetime is but a short portion of that period;
and if we find the wrong in existence as soon as we begin to live, that is
the point of time at which it begins to us, and our right to resist it
is the same as if it never existed before.”
Tom Paine.
Excerpted from “First Principles of Government”, 1785.
Islander.