While I think I understand the reaction to a burdensome or tyrannical tradition, here Paine throws out the baby with the bathwater, as the saying goes. Of course we need not be irrationally enslaved to any tradition, but neither should we simply reject all tradition. After all, some traditions persist because they are good traditions, traditions which have come about at great cost and have been tried and proven, traditions which may be tweaked and improved upon but which should still be held onto and even fought for. For example, the traditions upon which the U.S constitutional republic are founded are worth retaining and fighting for, traditions enshrined in our Constitution, which has a mechanism for amendment precisely because that same tradition includes within it the notion that we will need to improve upon it, recognizing that each generation stands on the shoulders of those that have gone before and need not reinvent the wheel but only make it better serve them in their own circumstances.

To my mind, only a fool wants to uncritically cut himself off from every tradition that has come before. I doubt Paine was such a fool, and I suspect that he would sound more level-headed if I were able to read all that he had to say on the subject. But, as the quote above stands, I cannot agree with it. I will leave other disagreements or criticisms that could be made -- such as the foolish lack of concern for succeeding generations -- for another time perhaps. I will just finish by observing that I believe there are moral absolutes, and, where there are moral absolutes, there will always be a tradition that needs to be retained, for these absolutes -- and the traditions formed by them -- will of necessity outlive every generation.