The idea of Thomas Paine as the “first American Blogger” didn’t start here. The thought has been around probably since the start of blogging.
What we try to do here is take the idea a step further. What if Tom Paine were alive today; how would his words relate to our world, our lives, our hopes and fears?
Certainly the world that Paine inhabited more than two hundred years ago isn’t the same as the one we live in now. Or is it? Does the passage of time really change the fundamental aspects of human culture?
Certainly things change, but just as certain is that the more things change, the more they remain the same.
This blog was originally started in July of 2006 at www.ThomasPaineBlogging.com and continues here.
Our venture here is intended to be an extension of what we started. We will relate the words of Tom Paine to our lives today, as well as bring our readers news and information about our world. The world we occupy today, the same one that Paine occupied, the one that future generations will claim as their own.
We are connected through common ideas, as expressed by the words of each generation’s brightest, and that connect us across the millennia.
Your thoughtful comments are encouraged as we continue our journey.
-Tom Schueneman
Editor, ThomasPaineBlog.org
Hi Name,
I’m Michelle Price and I’m writing to you on behalf of The Shift Network. Though we haven’t personally met, based on the topics I’ve read on your blog, I would like to introduce The Enlightened Business Summit to you. It’s the first “shift-oriented” business conference featuring many of the most influential business leaders in their field, and it’s no cost to attend. It’s going to be held over the phone October 24-29, 2010.
To learn more you can visit: http://enlightenedbusinesssummit.com/.
If you find it valuable, we’d appreciate you sharing with your blog readers, or via Twitter or Facebook.
To Enlightened Business,
Michelle P.
Thank you for providing this site. $25 provided today. Sent link to all my friends on facebook with following comment:
In commemoration of the anniversary of founding of this nation, I invite everyone to reflect on the life and writings of Thomas Paine. Though not the actual writer, he was the author of the Declaration of Independence and one of the most significant figures in American and world history.
Do you have Facebook page?
Best Regards, Warren
Warren,
Thank you very much for your support! I agree this day is a great time to reflect on Paine’s writing and philosophy, and his importance in the narrative of our nation’s founding.
I do not yet have a Facebook page for this project, but plan to develop one soon for this and the other two blogs in the history blog project.
Thanks again Warren for your help and kind words.
-Tom
RE: “If Glenn Beck says the government wants to tax your breathing under the guise of global warming legislation, that doesn’t mean it’s true. If Sarah Palin tells us that health care reform is an evil plot, it’s more a reflection of Sarah than it is health care reform. Reason dismisses such foolishness for what it is, ignorance swallows it whole.”
Reason dismisses a fool who would ignore Obama’s oppressive socialism. The SCOTUS just affirmed ObamaCare as a tax. The IRS will be the enforcer. It’s not “reform” in any sense of the word.It’s oppressive big government; something that Thomas Paine would have railed against and shamed you for using his name as part of your leftwing idiocy.
SFC MAC,
Troll alert!
You quote from a post from over two years ago taken out of context, not exactly intellectually honest – so it’s an evil plot then? You use Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin as the standard-bearers of your ideology? Interesting.
Your tired, hackneyed assertion that you suffer from “oppressive socialism” is the sort of idiocy Paine might have railed against I expect. I assume you get to vote in November.
If you want to argue the merits (or lack thereof) of “Obamacare” or of the dangers of his presidency as you perceive them, I suggest you’re best served to have the courage to refrain from the bluster and banality of name-calling and weak argumentation. But of course, discussing ideas isn’t what this is about is it?
Ironically, you prove the point of the post written back in 2010 that you quote in your breathless attack here.
Have a nice day.