“‘Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country. All nations and ages have been subject to them.”-Thomas Paine, The American Crisis No age or epoch of humanity has not eventually found itself the victim of its own base instincts. Fear, greed, and panic spread through the body politic like a virus, …
Author Archives: Thomas Schueneman
On the Politics of Resentment
“There are two distinct species of popularity; the one excited by merit, the other by resentment.” -Thomas Paine Too often it seems as if our political leaders and those seeking power pander toward the worst in people – intolerance and resentment, fear and prejudice. Achieving popularity by inciting the darker passions in people may win elections, but …
On the Divinity of Reason
“It is only by the exercise of reason that man can discover God.”
On the Perverse Utility of Falsehood
“Every lie is welcome that suits its purpose.”-Thomas Paine Nobody wishes to be called a liar, but many will believe in lies to reinforce a delusion. To every lie, its purpose. Tags: thomas+paine+and+falsehood, lie+suits+it+purpose
On Redefining Torture
“An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”-Thomas Paine …
On Cheap Energy
“What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly”-Thomas Paine True for any aspect of our lives, but particularly significant today with the rising cost of energy, in terms of dollars as well as the social and environmental consequences of our energy culture. For decades we in the developed world have enjoyed an abundance that …
On the Nature of Ignorance
“Ignorance is of a peculiar nature; once dispelled, it is impossible to re-establish it. It is not originally a thing of itself, but is only the absence of knowledge; and though man may be kept ignorant, he cannot be made ignorant.”-Thomas Paine, Rights of Man To be ignorant is not bliss, to remain ignorant is …
On the Wisdom of Dreams
“I am apt to think that the wisest men dream the most inconsistently. For as the judgment has nothing or very little to do in regulating the circumstances of a dream, it necessarily follows that the more powerful and creative the imagination is, the wilder it runs in that state of unrestrained invention; while those …
On Whether God Is a Christian
“Why may we not suppose that the great Father of all is pleased with a variety of devotion? And that the greatest offence we can act is that by which we seek to torment and render each other miserable? …I do not believe that any two men, on what are called doctrinal points, think alike, …
On Dodging Bullets in Bosnia
It is easy to tell a lie, but it is difficult to support the lie after it is told.-Thomas Paine How easy it is to be swept up in the moment and find yourself stepping over the line between fact and fiction. How hard it is to explain it after the moment has passed and …