On Speaking Truth to (and of) Power: When Good People Follow Bad Leaders

“When I look into history and see the multitudes of men, otherwise virtuous, who have died, and their families been ruined, in the defense of knaves and fools, and which they would not have done, had they reasoned at all upon the system; I do not know a greater good that an individual can render to mankind, than to endeavor to break the chains of political superstition.”
-Thomas Paine

The path to ruin is sometimes paved with good intentions. Power wields unto itself often an authority it does not deserve, wisdom it does not process, and devotion of which it is not worthy.

Good men with right hearts must sometimes rise up and declare the emperor has no clothes.

 

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On Redacting the Truth

“Mystery is the antagonist of truth. It is a fog of human invention, that obscures truth, and represents it in distortion. Truth never envelops itself in mystery, and the mystery in which it is at any time enveloped is the work of its antagonist, and never of itself.”
-Thomas Paine

The enemy of truth is often the one most loudly protesting in its behalf.

Truth will speak for itself.

 

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On Voting for Change

“When moral principles, rather than persons, are candidates for power, to vote is to perform a moral duty, and not to vote is to neglect a duty.”
-Thomas Paine

When it is necessary for a nation to change its course, as it surely is now, it is not only a right but also our duty to vote for the principals of moral change that we seek. We must then vote for the personality that best embodies those moral principals.

A cult of principal, not of personality.

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On the Campaign Primaries

“A little matter will move a party, but it must be something great that moves a nation”
-Thomas Paine, Rights of Man

Capturing the imagine of a nation, inspiring its citizens to unite and rise above petty grievance and intolerance, is what we need. Instead we get the primaries.

 

 

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On Choosing Your Battles

“It is folly to argue against determined hardness; eloquence may strike the ear, and the language of sorrow draw forth the tear of compassion, but nothing can reach the heart that is steeled with prejudice.”
-Thomas Paine

Prejudiced thinking drives away the burden of logic, making rational argument both unnecessary and a waste of time. 

It is best, then, to choose your battles wisely.  

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On Loving Your Enemy, Forgiveness, and Common Sense

“Loving of enemies is another dogma of feigned morality, and has besides no meaning. It is incumbent on man, as a moralist, that he does not revenge an injury; and it is equally as good in a political sense, for there is no end to retaliation, each retaliates on the other, and calls it justice; but to love in proportion to the injury, if it could be done, would be to offer a premium for crime.”
-Thomas Paine

Should the consequence of committing injury upon another be to retaliate in kind? We see all around us the results of that: Non-ending hatreds and escalating violence.

If acts have consequences, if we reap what we sow, can it truly be possible to love an enemy as you would your own? But if by love we mean forgiveness, then let it be so.

For to forgive relieves us of the burden of hatred that gnaws away at our own soul and does little harm to an enemy other than to justify the non-sensible continuation of aggression.

Forgiveness is an expression of a loving heart and is a gift to the world and to ourselves.  

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On Change, Creating a Better World, and Gratitude

Thomas Paine and a Better World“To see it in our power to make a world happy – to teach mankind the art of being – to exhibit on the theater of the universe, a character hitherto unknown – and to have, as it were, a new creation entrusted to our hands, are honors that command reflection, and can neither be too highly estimated, nor too gratefully received.
-Thomas Paine, The Crisis, Number 13

To have the opportunity to express the best in ourselves, to hope and work in hopes of a better world, and to receive the challenge with introspection and gratitude.

Thomas Paine expressed the ideals that inspired the revolution of enlightenment that changed the course of history of nations and men, and reverberates yet today.

Thomas Paine Takes a Break
Of all the history blogs in this project, Thomas Paine is the one that means the most. His words got this project started, and serve as the founding spark that propel it forward, happily immersed in the words of wisdom that call from our collective past.

The Thomas Paine Blog returns the first week of March. Until then, we’ll remember that, as Paine said, “We have it in our power to make the world over again”

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On Talk Radio and Rush Limbaugh

The “Among ridiculous things nothing is more ridiculous than ridiculous rage.”
-Thomas Paine

There are those that don’t know which battles to choose in life, those that do, and those that charge into an invented battle with indignation and rage, obscuring, to the casual observer, the twisted deficiency of the invention. For whatever reason it is done, it is ridiculous to its core.

While certainly not the only one, Rush Limbaugh comes to mind.

If Mr. Limbaugh’s brain is “on loan from God”, then God should foreclose.

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On Mudslinging in Political Campaigns

“To draw foolish portraits of each other, is a mode of attack and reprisal, which the greater part of mankind are fond of indulging.”
-Thomas Paine

Every election cycle, early on, civility is promised.

Then, as events heat up in the mad race to election day, civility turns to accusation and acrimony. Cries of “foul!” ensue, along with a general lament from the press, that nonetheless eats it all up and serves it to a waiting electorate.

And in the end, as ever before, we get the leaders we deserve.

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