187. The Common Sense We Need | Book Review

Common sense is in short supply nowadays. People are up in arms about politics, but should we be? Well, Thomas Paine explains his case for rebellion, and I can say we're nowhere close to that. After reading his pamphlet arguing for independence, I don't think we're anywhere close. So, listen below to find out why. Then, get your copy here so you can read. for yourself.

"SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher."
-Thomas Paine

Lessons from Common Sense

1. Monarchy rarely leads to liberty. Instead, it often leads to tyranny and subjugation of people to the whims of the monarch. Even when there's a good monarch, it often quickly leads to tyranny after a generation or two.
2. When you exhaust peaceful and legal means, you have to resort to worse. Paine grants that there were attempts at peaceful recourse first. However, they were not only unfruitful, but even harmful. So, he argues that action has to be taken and that the action must be declaring independence and fighting for it.
3. You can't waiver in between submission and rebellion. In his time, there were Americans on both sides of the Revolution, and many who were lukewarm or ready to put up with the tyranny. Paine calls on the American colonists to stand up for their liberty and reclaim it from a motherland that has turned her back on them.