Paine sees government as inherently bad, and does not see government as divinely ordained or otherwise intrinsically valuable. According to Paine, governments can only be measured by their effectiveness, as measured by their ability to improve society without being tyrannical. Paine does not believe that anyone has a right to govern others, which means he thinks that the king should no longer rule the colonies. Paine's view of government makes the revolutionary movement much more palatable by rejecting the presumption that the king has some legitimate and preexisting authority over the colonies. He says the only question that really matters is whether the colonists' living conditions would be better if they governed themselves, rather than being governed by the Crown
