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fraud to force

English translation: reinforced their power by using fraud

06:13 Sep 10, 2017
English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
Government / Politics / Politics
English term or phrase: fraud to force
Could anyone explain to me the meaning of the phrase "they united fraud to force" in the following passage? It is extracted from the book "Rights of Man" by Thomas Paine.

"Governments thus established last as long as the power to support them lasts; but that they might avail themselves of every engine in their favor, they united fraud to force, and set up an idol which they called Divine Right, and which, in imitation of the Pope, who affects to be spiritual and temporal, and in contradiction to the Founder of the Christian religion, twisted itself afterwards into an idol of another shape, called Church and State."

Thank you in advance.
Hoang Yen
Vietnam
Local time: 06:47
Selected answer:reinforced their power by using fraud
Explanation:
The fraudulent concept of Divine Right was used to strengthen the power that governments had acquired by other means
Selected response from:

Agneta Pallinder
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:47
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +5reinforced their power by using fraud
Agneta Pallinder
4 +2they employed at the same time/combined falsehood and brute force
Daryo
4 +1enforced a fraudulent principle
Jack Doughty


  

Answers


10 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
enforced a fraudulent principle


Explanation:
They invented the fraudulent principle of Divine Right and forced people to accept it.

Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:47
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 56

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard
1 hr
  -> Thank you.
neutral  Charles Davis: No, I don't think so; this doesn't account for "unite... to", which means "add... to" or "join... to"; they already used force, and in inventing Divine Right they added fraud to it, uniting the two.
4 hrs
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +5
reinforced their power by using fraud


Explanation:
The fraudulent concept of Divine Right was used to strengthen the power that governments had acquired by other means

Agneta Pallinder
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:47
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in SwedishSwedish, Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Charles Davis: Yes; it means that they added the false, fraudulent ideology of Divine Right to the force (the physical means to coerce people) that they already had and used.
2 hrs
  -> Thanks Charles, you put it beautifully!
agree  Tina Vonhof (X)
16 hrs
  -> Thanks Tina!
agree  Yvonne Gallagher
1 day 1 hr
  -> Thanks Gallagy!
agree  katsy
1 day 4 hrs
  -> Thanks Katsy!
agree  acetran
6 days
  -> Thanks Ace!
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
they united fraud to force
they employed at the same time/combined falsehood and brute force


Explanation:
they employed brute force to impose falsehood, and they used falsehood to justify using brute force on people

Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:47
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in SerbianSerbian, Native in FrenchFrench

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  AllegroTrans: "combined" is the crux of this
7 hrs
  -> Thanks!
agree  Graeme Jones
9 hrs
  -> Thanks!
neutral  Charles Davis: The uniting of fraud to (not with) force occurs with the setting up of the idol of Divine Right. Newly invented fraud is added to an already existing force. Thus "unite" does not express a reciprocal relationship here. / Force, undoubtedly.
14 hrs
  -> what came first? brute force or fraud? sounds to me like the chicken and egg problem ...
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