Tag: Historical Facts

Debs On Social Democracy

For years I have said that what is needed in our elections is a firebrand like Eugene Debs….that would be Left politics for the Right has that moron Donny.

The following is a piece Debs wrote in 1898…..if you read the article it could be talking about today…..

‘Social Democracy’ by Eugene V. Debs from Social Democratic Herald. Vol. 1 No. 14. October 8, 1898.

In the outset, and to “clear the deck” for action, some attention should be paid to definitions. What is meant by the term, “Social Democracy?”

The term “social” as applied to “democracy” means, simply, a society of democrats, the members of which believe in the equal right of all to manage and control it. Reading this definition, men are likely to say, “There is nothing new in that,” and they speak understandingly. The men and women who are engaged in organizing the Social Democratic Party of America are not pluming themselves upon the novelty of their scheme for the improvement of social, industrial, and political conditions. They claim for their movement a commonsense basis, free from the taint of vagary and in all regards preeminently practical.

The wise man is credited with saying, “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” Crediting the declaration of Solomon as conclusive, there must have been a time before he lived when something like “social democracy” of which I write existed in the earth, the germ idea of which, though latent for centuries, has aroused men from their lethargy from time to time in the processes of evolution, to find its most potent expression in the present era of “progress and poverty,” civilization and savagery, wealth and war, charity and greed, aroused them to an interest in socialism, which, with the chivalric courage of crusaders and the revolutionizing zeal of iconoclasts, has appeared to do battle for the regeneration of society.

No one hesitates to admit that the task is herculean; no one underestimates the power of opposing forces. Their name is legion, and they are organized forces—close, compact, resourceful, and defiant. They do not propose to surrender, compromise, nor arbitrate. They have the masses in the dust, their claws upon their throats and their hooves upon their prostrate forms. In the face of all the verified facts that startle thinking men, there is no requirement for extravagant speech.

But conditions as they exist are artificial, not natural. They were created by men, and may be changed by men, since it is a truth “that where there is a will there is a way” to elevate humanity as certainly as where there is a will there is a way to degrade it, and social democracy has one central pivotal purpose, the amelioration of social conditions and the emancipation of the victims of a vast brood of wrongs, all of which converge and consolidate in one great and overmastering wrong of robbing them under the forms of law, of the fruits of their toil, and thereby reducing them to a condition where men dispose of their manhood and women of their chastity for the means of continuing lives that are a ceaseless horror.

No well-informed honest man either doubts or attempts to controvert the proposition. It is as self-evident as the law of gravitation. It is the crime of the ages, the one great curse resulting from “man’s inhumanity to man,” the ever-present and threatening calamity which wage-earners are required to face and provide against as best they may.

Capitalism is running riot throughout the land. The private ownership of the means of production, that is to say, the means of life, is doing its deadly work. The trusts, syndicates, and corporations, with more eyes and hands than any mythological monster ever possessed, concoct new schemes of spoliation and the masses sink to lower depths of poverty, want, woe, and degradation.

The picture is not overdrawn. A Hogarth’s hand would relax its hold upon its pencil in tracing the horrors of a sweatshop or the agonies of the lives of tramps. Dante would look in vain throughout the realms of the infernal for incidents more horrifying than are found in the deep, dark, mining hells where miners work and famish. Only a Milton would be equal to the task of depicting the wreck and ruin wrought by the capitalist system in a land which should be a paradise, but which has been transformed into an arena more horrible than those where Roman emperors delighted to torture the victims of their vengeance.

All over this fair land, in every center of population, in mine and factory and shop, and spreading out into the forest, field, and farm, where bird and bee and brook make merry music and the winds transform leaf and spray into harps, where the flowers vie with the stars in making the earth as beautiful as the sky above, iron-tongued and iron-handed monsters of greed and lust, conscienceless as a Moloch and as relentless as death, have inaugurated wretchedness and poverty until from ocean to ocean, from valley to mountaintop, rises one unceasing complaint, touching every note in the scale of discontent and anger, while statesmen and students, philosophers and philanthropists, amazed and aghast, contemplate environments and await developments.

The millions of wage-earners do not own themselves, they are wage-slaves, and their masters control their lives and subject them to conditions as degrading as those which existed in times of chattel slavery. True it is that the united forces of labor could make themselves masters of the situation and change conditions to their liking, but divided on lines of political partisanship, intimidated, bulldozed, and bribed, they have done the bidding of the capitalist class, have been misled and betrayed by ignorant and dishonest leaders until hope has all but perished.

At this supreme juncture socialism has come into view and advances to the arena. It offers a remedy for social ills which must be mitigated if peace and prosperity are to come to the land. It strikes at the very root of capitalism by proposing to transfer the means of production and distribution, i.e., the land, mines, factories, railroads, machinery, etc., from private capitalists to the whole people to be operated by them in their collective capacity for the good of all, and this it proposes to do by the ballot of a triumphant majority of awakened, class-conscious supporters. The revolution is to be complete, but it is to be achieved by the ballot.

From the date of the introduction of chattel slavery into the British colonies of America to the time when the shackles fell from the limbs of 4 million slaves by the proclamation of Abraham Lincoln, 243 years had elapsed. But it was amidst the smoke and carnage of war, when a thousand streams ran read to the sea, that chattel slavery with its blocks and whips and pens disappeared from the land.

Wage-slavery has now in the United States a firmer standing than was ever secured by chattel slavery. For two centuries and a half no gleam of hope flashed upon the darkness in which the chattel slave lived and wrought and died, but along all the years, forces were being evolved to secure his rescue, culminating in a war of calamities unparalleled in the history of the world.

Socialism would work out the redemption of the wage-slave without a sanguinary conflict. Its emancipating program includes no bloody ordeals. It unfurls to the winds no battle banners except those inscribed with peace and goodwill to man. Its first great proposition is to educate workingmen and by an act which requires an exercise of willpower, to stand forth, redeemed and disenthralled, from the domination of any other man or set of men under heaven. This can be done. It is the initial step to a higher plane of existence and a nobler life, where men grow and expand to their full stature. It is a step which evinces the beginning of wisdom. He who takes it plucks for his own behoof and those dependent upon him the richest fruit that has grown on the tree of knowledge of all the ages.

Thousands are doing their own thinking and are conscious of their class interests in the economic struggle. They are organizing everywhere.

The movement is international.

The following is from the declaration of principles of the Social Democratic Party of America:

The control of political power by the Social Democratic Party will be tantamount to the abolition of capitalism and of all class rule.

The solidarity of labor connecting us with millions of class-conscious fellow-workers throughout the civilized world will lead to international socialism, the brotherhood of man. Capitalism is to culminate in socialism. The scepter it has wielded so long and so mercilessly in the interest of its class is soon to fall from its nerveless grasp. It is destroying itself and from its ruins will rise the Cooperative Commonwealth.

The Social Democratic Herald began as the Social Democrat. The Social Democrat was the paper of Eugene Debs’ pioneering industrial union, the American Railway Union. Begun in 1894 as the Railway Times, in July of 1897 it was renamed The Social Democrat and served as the paper of the Chicago based Social Democratic Party. First published in Terre Haute and then Chicago, the paper was produced weekly. After a split with Utopians who retained the paper, Debs’ published The Social Democratic Herald. When they joined with the Springfield, Massachusetts based Social Democratic Party in 1901, the Socialist Party was born. Victor Berger took over the paper in 1901 and moved it Milwaukee where it ran until 1913.

Not much has changed in over a hundred years….in closing I quote Debs….”The only worker who has an excuse to keep out of the social democratic movement is the unfortunate fellow who is ignorant and does not know better. He does not know what socialism is. That is his misfortune.”

A little slice of American history…..we need leaders with cajones….we have had enough of the spineless corruptible twats we have now.

I like this man’s style…..he is needed again…..today.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“legop ergo scribo”

Who’s The Worse Person In History?

Here is a question that ought to light up the social media goons.

A poll was recently taken and the question was asked….is it Attila, Genghis, Hitler, who?

One in 34 Americans – across the full political spectrum – now names a sitting president as the worst American in history. Not a serial killer, not a war criminal, not a figure safely buried in the past. The person currently holding the most powerful office on earth.

YouGov conducted its poll ahead of the 250th anniversary of the United States – a moment when Americans were being asked to step back and take the broadest possible view of their national story. Founding fathers, abolitionists, civil rights leaders, and accused predators were all on the table. And a sitting president landed at the top of the worst list anyway.

The question YouGov put to Americans wasn’t framed around partisan scores or job performance. It asked something bigger: looking back across 250 years of American life, who is the worst person this country has produced? The answer, from more than a third of respondents, was Donald Trump. The poll appeared on both a “greatest” and “worst” Americans list, a sign of how Trump remains one of the most polarizing figures in the country. No previous president in the poll’s history had managed that particular distinction – except one.

Read On…..

A New Poll Just Named the Worst American in History

What say you?  Who will be named the worse person in American history?

Let’s take a poll….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Thoughts On The Nation

Recently 4 past presidents had their say about Donny and his governing style….on the nation’s 250th birthday these men looked at what awaits the country in the near future.

Four former presidents delivered similar warnings on 250th birthday of the US: American democracy doesn’t run on autopilot. Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton each marked the milestone with calls for civic engagement and a renewed commitment to democratic norms, the Hill reports. Their messages:

  • Biden cast the Declaration of Independence as an unfulfilled promise and stressed that democracy must be fought for and earned repeatedly, while maintaining that Americans are less divided than they appear.
  • Obama described the country as a “work in progress” and said every generation must advance unfinished efforts to improve the nation.
  • Bush, asked what the next 250 years require, emphasized voting and participation even when election outcomes disappoint, calling the ballot a “powerful freedom.”
  • Clinton issued the sharpest critique, citing “deep division” and unnamed leaders who weaponize institutions and try to rewrite history, but he said the country’s strengths can still repair its flaws.

Okay these guys put lipstick on that floundering pig.

Biden needs to wake up and see that the nation is more divided than ever.

Obama was just plain optimistic maybe he should have given that advice to the Dems in Congress for the past decade.

Bush needs to tell this stuff to the party he represented in the past for they are doing all possible to end the ‘power of freedom’ that is the vote.

And then there is Clinton who need not preach to the nation after he and his minions have done what we are facing now to this country.

That is about all I have to say about the 4 past presidents and their attempt to look like they can make a difference….they cannot.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Declaration Of Independence

Today we celebrate the signing of the DoI which lead to the conflict that gave America it’s independence from Mother England.

The document that we celebrate was not the brain child of Jefferson…..as many would like to believe…..personally I think he was just writing a document from notes he had not much original thought there.

All that aside….what is this post about?

Thanks to Benjamin Franklin’s “Poor Richard,” for two decades every member of the Continental Congress was well aware that “haste makes waste.” But the days of late June and early July 1776 cast doubt on the universality of Franklin’s prudent proverb.

By that spring, the colonies had moved closer to independence. Individual colonial assemblies had developed their own list of grievances and calls for independence, many patterned on Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking up Arms from the previous year, and on his mass-distributed 1774 pamphlet, A Summary View of the Rights of British America. Colonies were also drafting their own state constitutions to be adopted in a free United States of America.

Jefferson had sequestered himself at his beloved Monticello, suffering from migraines. No doubt the stresses of drafting ideas for Virginia’s constitution and grieving the loss of his mother, who died at the end of March, contributed to his condition. But in May, he descended from his Olympus and made the ten-day journey to Philadelphia to join the Second Continental Congress. He originally found rooms in the city center, but by May 23, Jefferson and his fourteen-year-old slave, Robert Hemmings, had found quieter quarters in the Graff House at Seventh and Market Streets. Jefferson had with him his recently acquired writing desk and Windsor chair.

On Friday, June 7, Richard Henry Lee, Jefferson’s fellow Virginia delegate, presented to the Congress Virginia’s resolution on independence: “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.” During debates on the Lee Resolution on Saturday and Monday, John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, Robert Livingston of New York, and Edward Rutledge of South Carolina argued that the colonies were not ready for independence. Samuel Adams and his cousin John took the other side, stating that the citizens were “eager” and “ahead of Congress” on independence

https://www.coolidgereview.com/articles/declaration-not-all-jefferson

It is my opinion that we celebrate on the wrong day…..yes the DoI is integral part of our fight for independence but I think that the real celebration should be on Constitution Day in September for that is when it officially became the United States of America.

The DoI was a list of grievances against England but these were covered in Paine’s Common Sense…..

Common Sense provided a persuasive argument to leave England and their model of governance for a republic directly elected by the people. While it deals largely with the American case, it also considers larger topics of political philosophy—anti-monarchism, theories that republics will engage in less conflict, and discussions of the state of nature and how the first societies were created. Common Sense answers the question: What does the ideal government look like? In these ways, it is more relevant today than ever.

This is for those that have NO idea what Paine was writing about….it is quick and painless….

https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/commonsense/summary/

Please remember that there is more to today than beer and BBQ…..it was the beginning of this great country and should be remembered as such.

I you are out celebrating please be careful and do not drive and drink…..if you are participating in the fireworks tradition be extra careful.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Old Professor’s Classroom

Think about he richest cities in the US today….now think back over a hundred years ago….the richest city in the US was Natchez, Mississipppi

If asked to name the richest county in America in 1860, most people would guess New York, Massachusetts, or Pennsylvania.

They’d be wrong.

On the eve of the Civil War, that distinction belonged to Adams County, Mississippi – home to Natchez. According to 1860 census data, Adams County ranked at or near the top nationally in per-capita wealth, a remarkable distinction for a county on what was then America’s southwestern frontier. Contemporary accounts and historians have often described Natchez as having more millionaires per capita than any other American city. At a time when one million dollars represented an almost unimaginable fortune, an extraordinary concentration of wealth sat atop a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.

That fact surprises us not simply because it involves Mississippi, but because it challenges an assumption many Americans hold about economic history: that today’s centers of wealth have always occupied the top tier of the nation’s economy. But Natchez tells a different story. Economic power is rarely permanent. It follows transportation networks, technology, markets, and opportunity – often leaving yesterday’s boomtowns behind.

To understand Natchez’s rise, start with the Mississippi River. Long before railroads, interstate highways, and commercial aviation connected the nation, rivers served as America’s primary transportation system. The Mississippi and its tributaries formed the most important commercial network on the continent, linking vast stretches of the interior to New Orleans and international markets. Goods that might take weeks to move overland could be transported efficiently by water, making river towns natural centers of trade and investment.

Natchez occupied one of the most strategic locations along that network. Rising high above the floodplain on dramatic bluffs, it offered protection from flooding while maintaining direct access to river commerce. By the early nineteenth century, steamboats moved constantly along the Mississippi, carrying passengers, mail, manufactured goods, agricultural products, and information. Communities along this watery highway enjoyed advantages that would later belong to railroad junctions, interstate crossroads, and major airports.

Geography provided the opportunity. Cotton created the fortune.

https://www.realclearhistory.com/2026/06/10/when_americas_richest_city_was_in_mississippi_1187096.html

That’s right the nation poorest state today was once one of the richest.

My my how things have gone wrong.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What We Do Not Know Constitutionally

AS we near the first step to our independence it comes to light that we know very little about the US Constitution…..

These are the 10 most common mistakes….

The phrase “it’s unconstitutional” gets thrown around in American political life the way people invoke “the rules” in an argument they’re losing: with great confidence and very little specificity. Most Americans have a working sense of what the Constitution does. It protects rights, limits government, sets up three branches. But the gap between that general outline and what the document actually says, and crucially what it doesn’t say, is wider than most people realize.

10 Things Most Americans Get Wrong About the Constitution

Now you know.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Few “Founding” Myths

As with all history there myths that get passed around so much that soon become a fact….but in reality they are still a myth no matter how many times they are uttered.

As a political Historian I feel it necessary to corr4eect a bunch of the myths that we have lived with for generations.

10 myths that we all know and have heard…..

  • The Declaration of Independence wasn’t signed on July 4, 1776. Though the Declaration was adopted by Congress on July 4, the document wasn’t signed by most of the delegates until August 2.
  • Thomas Jefferson didn’t sign the Constitution. Though Jefferson signed the Declaration of Independence, he missed the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia because he was serving as the United States’ envoy in Paris at the time.
  • Neither did John Adams. Like Jefferson, Adams was away from the United States at the time it was signed. He was in London serving as the United States minister to Great Britain.
  • The Founding Fathers didn’t originally want the turkey as the United States’ national symbol. The debate over the Great Seal began in 1776 and lasted six years, involving ideas about religious and mythical scenes. The turkey was not a close contender.
  • The Liberty Bell probably didn’t ring after the Declaration of Independence was signed. Historians say it’s unlikely the bell rung because the steeple that housed the bill was rotted at the time. It’s also unlikely it cracked that day.
  • There weren’t originally 13 colonies. Until 1776, Delaware was legally considered a lower county of the colony of Pennsylvania. It left to become an independent state in 1776.
  • There’s no proof Betsy Ross created the the first American flag. According to National Geographic, the only evidence Ross played any part in designing or sewing the American flag that made its debut in 1777 is testimony from her family. Likewise, there’s no proof Ross didn’t create the flag, and several reasons she may have done so.
  • Neither the Constitution nor the Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper. They were both written on parchment, though some early drafts of the documents could have been written on the widely-used hemp.
  • Most of the Founders who signed the Declaration of Independence didn’t sign the Constitution. Only six signed both: George Clymer, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, George Read,James Wilson and Roger Sherman.
  • The Constitution doesn’t say “All Men Are Created Equal.” That language is contained within the Declaration of Independence; the original Constitution included provisions such as the Three-Fifths Clause, which counted each enslaved person as three-fifths of a person to determine representation in Congress.

That will do for now….

Class Dismissed

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Are We Force-Fed “Facts”?

There is so much propaganda out there, not just the Donny years but for the last several decades, ‘facts’ that we all buy into that are not ‘facts’ at all…..

1. The idea that tax cuts or bailouts for the wealthy will stimulate the economy (aka “trickle-down economics”) is, at best, a failed experiment and, at worst, an all-out deception. The term “trickle-down economics” was first used in relation to Herbert Hoover and his economic policy during the Great Depression. However, Hoover’s oft-attributed commitment to laissez-faire free market economic policy is debatable, and he actually raised taxes on the rich.

2. The major modern player in trickle-down economics was Ronald Reagan, though the term he actually used was supply-side economics, which purports to boost economic growth through lowered individual and corporate taxes and regulations. His first major move toward such an economy was the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, which, according to Reagan’s Office of Management and Budget director David Stockman, was really just “a Trojan horse to bring down the top [tax] rate” and essentially trickle-down in a trench coat.

The Act slashed the highest income tax from 70% down to 50%. Lower incomes also received tax cuts, but they were much smaller. It also reduced estate, capital gains, and corporate taxes. This massively increased the deficit to such a disastrous level that some of it was actually reversed before it went into effect just a year later in TEFRA, including a few of the tax breaks and slashes that had not gone into effect yet; it also closed tax loopholes and increased other taxes like the cigarette tax. However, Reagan’s Tax Reform Act of 1986 later provided further massive tax cuts, slashing the top income tax from 50% to 28%, and decreasing the corporate tax rate by 12 points to 34%.

All of this was purportedly done to boost the economy, which was in a recession when Reagan came into office. So, did it work? Kind of, temporarily. Unemployment dropped, finance (particularly stocks, bonds, and real estate) and technology expanded, and low-level positions (in addition to high-level ones) saw pay raises. However, Reaganomics also led to the income gap widening considerably, with the richest now able to lobby the government for further policy to support them. Oh, and Reagan massively increased the deficit…again.

There is so much more bullshit that was fed to the less intelligent among us

https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahmarder/american-propaganda

All this was propaganda which equates to damn lies and yet voters flocked to the promise of a better America…..and how has that worked out for you?

Reagan among others have been pulling our chains and manipulating us to the point of us actually being the problems we face today.

For christ sake learn something…..for we have the power to change this assassination of our system by politicians….all we have to do is learn and vote for the change we need to right this country from the destructive course these politicians have set us on.

Do you want to continue on this journey of destruction or do you want the country we use to have?

It is your choice.

Choose wisely.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Worst President Ever

Now I could go on a diatribe about Donny referencing his many fuck ups but his last chapter has not been written yet.

And now time for the old professor to drop some history.

The worst president to many political historians was Buchanan the 15th president of the United States.

Historians often label James Buchanan as one of the worst presidents in United States history. His presidency was marked with conflict, a conflict that had been brewing for over thirty years. Yet, Buchanan’s actions, and at times his inactions, aggravated sectional tensions to the point where the Union dissolved.

James “Old Buck” Buchanan was born to wealthy Irish immigrants on April 23, 1791, in rural Cove Gap, Pennsylvania.   He entered Dickinson College at the age of 16, two years later he graduated with honors. After his graduation in 1809, Buchanan studied law and as his legal career grew so did his political one. Buchanan served in a reserve unit during the War of 1812 and did not experience any combat, and shortly after the war, the Old Buck served in the Pennsylvania State Legislature before his election to serve in the United States House of Representatives from 1821 until 1831, where he sat on the House Judiciary Committee.

…
Buchanan’s presidency was marred with conflict; however, one of the most significant events of his presidency began to unfold even before his inauguration. At the heart of the Dred Scott v. Stanford case was the status of slavery in the territories, an issue that had plagued American politics since the Missouri Compromise. Buchanan desperately hoped that the Supreme Court would unequivocally settle this massive issue before his inauguration in March of 1857. In violation of presidential ethics, on February 3, 1857, the president-elect began corresponding with Justice John Catron of Tennessee. Buchanan inquired as to when the country would learn about a decision and if the decision would be narrowly focused or broad. In his response, Catron did not answer as to when a decision would be handed down but did mention that the territorial question would be involved. On February 23, 1857, Justice Robert Grier of Pennsylvania responded to an earlier letter of Buchanan and tipped him off to the coming decision, writing “six if not seven will declare that the compromise law of 1820 to be non-effect.” With this prior knowledge in his inaugural address, Buchanan referred to Dred Scott as a decision that would “speedily and finally” resolve all questions about slavery in the territories, and he would “cheerfully submit to that decision.”

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/james-buchanan

There is more if you are interested…..

Read more about the worst presidential scandals.

Read more about the Worst Presidents methodology.

Donny may one day be known for nothing other than feeding his own ego but until then Buchanan is still the worst president.

I know most people could care less about our history and that should be a shame for we are where we are today because ignorance has prevailed.

Any opinions?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Thomas Paine–Working Class Hero

Since it is the 250th anniversary if the US I have set about re-acquainting the American people with the original Founding Father with a series dedicated to Thomas Paine.

I am always amazed to see any Right winger use Paine as some sort of icon for their beliefs….it is humorous for if they knew anything about Paine they would realize that he stood for damn near everything they hold dear.

…

The only thing Paine liked less than monarchical rule was its enablers, anyone who relinquished their freedom willingly to an aspiring tyrant.

This is not only wrong, Paine insists, but against nature, since all of us are created equal.

But even that’s not the worst part. Those who sacrifice their own freedom on the altar of monarchy also sacrifice that of future generations. Their “unwise, unjust, unnatural compact might (perhaps) in the next succession put them under the government of a rogue or a fool.” Ouch.

“Most wise men,” Paine adds, “in their private sentiments, have ever treated hereditary right with contempt; yet it is one of those evils, which when once established is not easily removed; many submit from fear, others from superstition, and the more powerful part shares with the king the plunder of the rest.”

https://theconversation.com/in-1776-thomas-paine-made-the-best-case-for-fighting-kings-and-for-being-skeptical-266448

It was Paine that chided Americans to throw off the yoke of Britain….

“In ‘Common Sense,’ Thomas Paine defines common sense as the fundamental ability of all people to reason and discern truth, regardless of social standing or education. He argues that this innate capacity, when applied to political matters, reveals the absurdity of hereditary monarchy and the necessity of self-governance based on the consent of the governed. Paine’s ‘Common Sense’ is a call to action, urging colonists to reject British rule and embrace republicanism, a system of government where power resides in the people.”  (To discern the truth….something Americans have lost)

…

What was Paine’s specific vision for human society? Long after the successful defeat of British colonialism in “the colonies,” he wrote this passage in “Rights of Man, Part the Second”: “When it shall be said in any country in the world that my poor are happy, neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars, the aged are not in want; the taxes are not oppressive; the rational world is my friend, because I am the friend of its happiness—when these things can be said, then may that country boast its constitution and its government.”

…

“Anyone needing to be reminded of core Enlightenment beliefs—that government can only be empowered by its citizens; that such citizens are born with certain natural rights; that none are born superior to any other; that all will be treated equally before the law; and that the state has a duty to help the neediest of its people—reading Paine offers a political and spiritual inspiration, one that has driven men and women to achieve greatness across history. Of Paine’s many reasons for daring to publish work for which he could have been hanged or guillotined in the United Colonies, the United Kingdom, or France, this legacy is his glory.”

The US resistance movement fighting the Trump regime’s effort to destroy everything Thomas Paine stood for and fought for, and more, will be stronger if we raise him up more and more over the coming months as we approach the 250th anniversary on July 4th next year of the issuing of the Declaration of Independence. There’s no question which side he would be on if he was alive today.

(znetwork.org)

This is something I wrote a couple of years ago about Thomas Paine….

Thomas Paine: America’s Founder

This is another tribute to this forgotten Founder….

Citizen of the world: a brief survey of the life and times of Thomas Paine (1737-1809) – World Socialist Web Site

I have been a fan of Paine since I was 14 when my grandfather gave me a copy of Common Sense….it was eye opening and profound….we need another Thomas Paine to bring some light to the darkness that now engulfs our nation…..we need Thomas Paine.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”