Question

Common Sense

Answer 1

Thomas Paine gives several examples of when he believes it is good to go to war. He argues that it is important to be brave when a little action by the few could improve things for the whole ("at a time when a little might have saved the whole, and made them happy"). He also says that acting in self-defense is the only case in which a war is legitimate. He asks: "if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to "bind me in all cases whatsoever" to his absolute will, am I to suffer it?"

On the other hand, engaging in a war for offense, and not defense, is equivalent to "murder," and is completely wrong according to Paine. The comparison between this type of war and murder is a metaphor that Paine uses to give more emphasis to his opinion. Another example is the use of a thief as a character that is compared with an enemy at war.