Patriot Thomas Paine rallied the American colonists to declare independence from Great Britain with his pamphlet Common Sense. However, modern common sense is lacking in society. “The People” aren’t “woke enough” to liberty concepts.
Modern common sense is having the ability to think, interpret, and present data from a variety of sources cohesively. You know through past life experiences how not to be a victim in daily life.
Now, let the words of Thomas Paine show you some more sense.
Common Sense
Do People Possess More Common Sense in the Present Era?
We look around us today to see how the world looks like the movie “Idiocracy”. The idiots are the leaders, and the world becomes dumber with time. We don’t study the errors of our ancestors.
Like you, I do wonder about the state of many world situations. Not having the liberty to decide is detrimental. Watching the news every day can be a depressing matter if all you see is a world on fire with doom and destruction.
The cure for doom is to learn, interpret, and think.
Was it Common Sense for the USA to Leave Great Britain?
You don’t have to ponder that too hard.
The answer was YES, YES, and YES! This is where intuition and Common Sense answer that question for you.
There’s only so much weight an apple tree can hold. Either the apples need to be picked or they will fall off naturally saving the tree from crashing down. This best illustrates the colonists’ situation with the British in 1776. The tree for independence was about to crash down hard…
If separation was delayed even by 50 years, Paine knew that the end result would be the same… More tyranny invoked on the colonists.
It may have seemed scary to declare independence but -TERRIFYING- was the word to describe the dire situation. The mere thought of standing strong against an overwhelming British force would make you hide in fear unless you were pushed to the brink of pure hatred toward your enemy.
I would not have wanted to gamble my life away in 1776 unless necessary. We can thank God that they did that 245 plus years ago for us to live in a country with numerous freedoms.
Thomas Paine- Just A Man
This ole chap from Great Britain considered himself an Englishman before his sentiments shifted toward the American cause for independence.
“Ole Paine” became the great agitator of his era. His bombastic personality shined through his writings as an angry British subject that never could win a croquet game. The insults he used for King George III of Great Britain would put Saturday Night Live to shame.
The question begs why did Paine leave England?
Paine had nothing to lose. His tobacco shop failed, and he sold his possessions to pay the debt incurred from his business ventures. Without much tying him to England, Paine met Benjamin Franklin who helped to convince him to emigrate from England to the American colonies. Paine left for Philadelphia shortly after where he had the revolutionary atmosphere to write Common Sense.
He knew America needed liberty from Great Britain.
Background Philosophy on English Government
Governments are an unfortunate necessity for civil societies to operate. They provide a common-sense approach to law and order that civil people need.
Laws of man should be equally applied to everyone with no special favors given for status, sex, gender, or wealth.
But… man had to change the foundation of government.
Governments were supposed to separate beast from man, but man turned into beast. In other words, the original intentions of primitive governments changed. Humanity’s unquenchable desires for power were not contained by governments. Thus, governments turned into a system to implement the wishes of corrupt kings’ or dictators’ ambitions.
Days of the Kings-Not So Fast
Monarch is another term for a tyrant. There is no need for monarchies in any modern society.
But you might say… “I like following the modern royal family.” Do they provide value to your life except for entertainment? You have the liberty and common sense to answer that question for yourself.
Reason for the King
People need some sort of affirmation from another human to validate their actions.
Over time, people fabricated the monarch as a means to have people judged by other people.
If you do not believe in a higher power, there is no one else to judge you. We have world religions for people to seek that affirmation for their own sanity. Believing provides hope for a better place than this earthly world.
What does a king provide?
The answer is nothing. That doesn’t take me long to come to that conclusion.
Once Adam went into the Garden of Eden, human nature and free will became real human attributes. There was no going back to pure innocence after that.
In the movie “The Lion King”, there is a circle of life. Animals like men are born to rise and fall from the dust- including earthly kings.
How can a human rule over another?
The kings provided themselves with self-proclaimed power of absolute rule. They ruled because they claimed power first by simply announcing it arbitrarily.
The other ways that they came to power were the following:
- Bribery
- Fear of destruction
- Usurp power from another king
Royal Line in Britain
Paine quoted that the royal bloodline of Britain came from “William the Conqueror”.
He even said:
“A French bastard landing with an armed banditti, and establishing himself king of England against the consent of the natives, is in plain terms a very paltry rascal original.”
Thomas Paine
For those of you who think Paine is being witty, “William the Conqueror” did establish a monarchy in Great Britain through conquest. In that regard, he was and became a “bastard” to the English.
Reasons for Independence from Great Britain
1. No long-term stability with British influence
Great Britain involved itself with the colonies through their own self-interest. They lived on a tiny island but wanted to have authority over an entire continent.
If Great Britain considered themselves “family” to the colonies, why did they kill and harm their children if they were the parental country?
“Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families.”
Thomas Paine
England considered themselves to be the parent country of the USA, but they weren’t. People from all over Europe came to the USA on boats. In 1775, not even half of the colonial population were of British descent.
Also, Europeans love to kill each other. They have crafted their battle-axes, swords, and cannons to inflict maximum damage on their neighbors. There is no stability fighting wars across an ocean when colonists were building a country that could still have traded with Europe being independent.
2. The Cowards
How could you forgive all the atrocities that the British had committed?
There are only so many times that you can be punched, kicked, head-butted, or shot at before you take precautions to protect yourself and your family. I wouldn’t stand for several rounds of punishment. Hopefully, you wouldn’t either. The colonists didn’t.
Characteristics of Weak Men (traitors to America):
- Interested men in the Olive Branch Petition (the petition sent to the British to apologize for all colonists’ actions)
- Weak men with no backbone (know when to say enough is enough)
- Prejudiced men who are blind (pure idiots)
- Biased European men who don’t recognize the human nature of violence
Why give allegiance to a man who is an enemy to liberty?
King George III was a tyrant. The Declaration of Independence also gives you an idea of the magnitude of King George’s lunacy when Thomas Jefferson listed all the charges against the king.
Divine power belonged to the king and only the king. All the laws went through him. That’s not liberty!
The laws that King George III and other kings did not work. Multiple civil wars occurred throughout the reign of the Royal family. For people to rebel against the English government meant they had a hatred for the current regime.
King George III incited insurrections amongst the colonists promoting the Indians and slaves to fight against American independence. At least the colonists had several generations of people local to the area, but the slaves and Indians would have succumbed to British rule if the insurrections were successful to defeat the Americans.
This is one of Paine’s best quotes on comparing why America couldn’t forgive the enemy of liberty. The following quote relates to relationships:
“As well can the lover forgive the ravisher of his mistress, as the continent forgive the murders of Britain.”
Thomas Paine
Interesting Observations of Paine to Help Win War
- America had a large armed force of disciplined men
- Enough lumber to build a navy for years and years
- No debts to hamper investment (because we had a young country with minimal history)
- British navy spread too thin with their conquest to civilize the world with tea and crumpets
- Other countries saw the USA as rebels
- Consequences as Prisoners of War:
- British- Treated with tea and saying of “nice try chap”
- Americans- Traitors and waving “good bye ole chap”
- Consequences as Prisoners of War:
Conclusion
We all have common sense. It is a matter of finding the right inspiration to use it.
Thomas Paine used his work Common Sense to promote an angle for American independence. The timing of his pamphlet couldn’t have been better. Sometimes it takes an outsider’s perspective to wake you up.
If there is anyone in other countries reading this, I would love to hear your take on America.
How does your liberty compare to the USA, the world, and your immediate region?
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