Teaching Common Sense by Thomas Paine
by Jeff Schneider
A Student-Led Lesson On Donald Trump and the Rule of Law
Ever since we watched Donald Trump descend the escalator in the Trump Tower lobby, writers and pundits on the left have been calling for a defense of democracy against this homunculus of a dictator. He burst as if from an invisible shell a fully formed fabulist by proudly denouncing migrants coming to our southern border as drug dealers and rapists. Of course, this opening salvo for dictatorship, disguised as an introduction to his political program for the Republican nomination for president, was just his first sharp wedge into the soft tissue of our body politic. Our politcal leaders were not ready for what was to come.
His mentors, Roy Cohn and Steve Bannon, were not household names in 2015, his blustering explosions of rhetoric consciously quoting Hitler, claiming the migrants were “poisoning” our culture and warning of a coming “bloodbath” in Ohio last March turned out to be inevitable. Especially when we saw him pose at the end of sentences with an uplifted chin. It was a menacing imitation of Mussolini. How do we defend against this dangerous character who insults the clerk of one of his judges in such a way as to cause his supporters to threaten her with murder? He caused Fani Willis, the prosecutor in Georgia, to leave her home and wear body armor when she left the court house through a secret exit, depending on a body double to mislead Trumpers who might be waiting to attack if she had come out the front.
All these actions were designed to create a normalization of violence. Violence that would break down the democratic order which many Americans were surprised was so fragile. Trump is a menace -- when he left his podium during a debate with Hillary Clinton and wandered around behind her on her part of the stage while she spoke -- it was just a small part of his dangerous bullying behavior. When he said he would only accept the results of the election if he were to win, he made good on his promise in 2020 questioning both the 2016 and 2020 results. And then he supported fake electors, called for hanging Mike Pence on January 6, 2021 and incited a riot killing three capital police officers and injuring 174 more. Seven officers died by suicide within 7 months. Nearly 1000 rioters have been convicted of criminal charges from trespassing to seditious conspiracy and now the leader of the Proud Boys has been convicted of sedition itself At least 200 more are awaiting indictment.
These outlandish attitudes and actions I have been describing are all part of the strong man profile. We have already mentioned similarities to Hitler and Mussolini, but we could add Pinochet of Chile, Khadaffi of Libya, Mobutu of Zaire, Berlesconi of Italy and Putin of Russia. These dictators have personalities and act when in power in similar ways to Trump. See the book by NYU history professor, Ruth Ben-Ghiat called Strong Men (2020) published by W. W. Norton and Company in which she discusses their characteristics in detail.
Fortunately, we have an excellent guide to democratic values. It is one of our national treasures, the pamphlet, Common Sense, by Thomas Paine. Written in January 1776 six months before the Declaration of Independence, It sold out within the month becoming the first American best seller. I taught the pamphlet in student-led lessons in my AP classes in American history from 2000 to 2015.
The assignment for the class was to download and read the 9 page PDF version of Common Sense I had prepared for them and choose 10 sentences: 2 from the beginning, 2 from the end and 6 from the middle.
See the edited version of Common Sense here:
They could pick sentences that they agreed or disagreed with, or that struck them as well written or surprising. Each sentence had to be underlined on the document and copied on to a separate piece of paper with one or two sentences explaining why they chose it. The sentences had to be uploaded to Turnitin.com, so there was a record of the assignment. Of course, each student's work would be 50% plagiarized because half the words came from Paine's pamphlet. This procedure kept them honest and gave me a record of their work. AP students have so much work to do that the temptation to plagiarize was too great to take a chance. I had my AP students upload all their assignments to Turnitin.com This procedure is explained in detail in the article, “Teaching The Tarzan Theory of Reading” elsewhere on this site. It is essential that each student did her own work because learning and thinking were the keys to my method and, of course, the main purpose of my classes.
When I began the class, I would ask what they thought of the piece or if they had any questions. All my questions were open-ended so that the students could lead the discussion. Some would ask about the references to Adam and lost innocence, or the jokes about following the lion with the ass. Paine was getting a kick out of shocking the common reader by referring to King Richard the Lion Heart and (Bad) King John who took his brother's place during the Crusades. In the same vein, the comments would usually center on how clear and direct the writing was and how insightful it was. The tone is so colloquial that it is surprising to see how deep Paine's thoughts were. I asked for examples to illustrate the ideas as they offered their thoughts. The discussion was always lively - reflecting Paine's style. If the pace of the class slowed down, I would ask for sentences that they had chosen. The Tarzan method encourages participation. When teachers try it, they see that the students are eager to share what they have read and they legitimately feel that they are finding out how to think about the document by themselves. Paine's pamphlet was written for the ordinary American: That is, an audience like a high school class full of juniors, or, college students in an American history survey.
Common Sense is divided into 4 parts and a short conclusion. As the students volunteer their sentences, I would write a summary of the ideas that emerged on the blackboard. At the end of the class we would have notes that covered the class's interpretations of the document. All of the sentences would come from the students unless there were important ideas left out of the discussion. In that case, I would ask if a student had picked those sentences and each would read one of those few sentences that were essential to complete Paine's argument. Whenever a student read her sentence it was necessary that she point out the number or letter of the paragraph, so all the students could read along with her. It was also key that the reader enunciate clearly and slowly so that the meaning could emerge as she read. I asked the student why she had picked that particular sentence -- not what it meant. The motivation for picking the sentence was key because the more the student had a connection to the text the better it was for the discussion. It did not matter if the student agreed with the sentence or not, but only that she had something to say about it. If she could only explain what it meant, we could work with that.
Part I
On the origins of Government with Concise Remarks on the English Constitution
The first two sentences in the document Paine startle the reader:
AAA 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.
Are there words here you do not understand. I ask. The former (society) is the first in the list the latter (government) is the last. How do you think about this, I ask. The ideas here are foreign to most students. It is a point of view that makes the reader step back to think about one of the fundamentals of political thought: Paine gives a perspective on government, showing its history, and origin. He calls government, like dress a badge of lost innocence. The Bible is a text Americans had in common. As the students discuss these ideas, the existence of evil in society coming down to us from Adam and Eve eating the apple disobeying god requires the government as a punisher. Paine follows this idea to the end of section AAA:
For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest.
How do you comment, I ask. Do you understand all the words here? Someone might not understand the use of the word, property. It is an interesting term here because it is part of how we understand the origins of government. How can we interpret the use of the word property to furnish means for the protection of the rest? The deeper meaning is in BBB:
Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here too is the design and end of government, viz. freedom and security.
One meaning can certainly be derived from the last two ideas above, taxes. We pay taxes for the financing of government protection. Paine calls the purpose (end) of government: freedom and security. Viz means namely. Can you comment on that I ask. It turns out to be a common phrase: liberty and life or as Jefferson said in the Declaration of Independence: the natural rights of Life and Liberty are our property i.e. the other meaning of property. We own our rights, they are our property they are part of us, inherent rights. The phrase, Life and Liberty has a double meaning they are also our material possessions one of which is money.
In paragraph CCC Paine continues:
(Despite the vaunted reputation of the English constitutional monarchy its) component parts are the base remains of two ancient tyrannies, compounded with some new republican materials. First.The remains of monarchical tyranny in the person of the king. Secondly.The remains of aristocratical tyranny in the persons of the peers. Thirdly.The new republican materials, in the persons of the commons, on whose virtue depends the freedom of England.
The word republican , refers to things of the people.
(A)s the same constitution which gives the commons a power to check the king by withholding the supplies, gives afterwards the king a power to check the commons, by empowering him to reject their other bills; it again supposes that the king is wiser than those whom it has already supposed to be wiser than him. A mere absurdity!
How can you comment on this passage, I ask. Students will eventually reach the conclusion: By taking the ideas of checks and balances seriously, Paine has exposed the the weakness of the Commons by pointing out that the King and Peers (Lords) who inherited their positions are tyrannies, having different interests from the Commons. that can overrule the will of the people, the republican branch. It is farcical. Thinking clearly is Paine's most powerful weapon. Again - how do you comment on witholding supplies. or wiser? We are back to taxes and a key power of the Commons which as you might know, originated in the Magna Carta 1215 CE.when the barons forced the power on King John, Instead it became a gift of the people. Not to be forced on the barons. The barons refused to give John funds for the government unless they voted it for it freely and on their own, thus forming Parliament. Wiser indeed.
DDD
That the crown is this overbearing part in the English constitution needs not be mentioned, and that it derives its whole consequence merely from being the giver of places (patronage or offices) and pensions is self-evident; wherefore, though we have been wise enough to shut and lock a door against absolute monarchy, we at the same time have been foolish enough to put the crown in possession of the key. ... For the fate of Charles the first, hath only made kings more subtle not more just. ...the plain truth is, that it is wholly owing to the constitution of the people, and not to the constitution of the government that the crown is not as oppressive in England as in Turkey.
King Charles I was famously executed in 1649 so though the King George III had less power than he did before the Magna Carta, he was still the final arbiter of policy despite the sole power of the commons to raise money for the government. The ruler of Turkey, Erdogan, is a strong man in the 21st century. How would you characterize the English version of democracy? The students will conclude that the so-called constitutional monarchy of Great Britain did not have a real democratic structure.
Part II (Equality)
EEE starts out with an uncommon phrase in the 21st century:
MANKIND being originally equals in the order of creation, the equality could only be destroyed by some subsequent circumstance; the distinctions of rich, and poor, may in a great measure be accounted for, and that without having recourse to the harsh ill sounding names of oppression and avarice.... But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is, the distinction of men into KINGS and SUBJECTS. Male and female are the distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, is worth enquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.
How do you comment on paragraph EEE, I ask. Clearly the differences between Kings and Subjects are the strangest of all. Students will come to the conclusion that fairness is Paine's concern. The students will conclude that the emperor has no clothes, to coin a phrase.
FFF To the evil of monarchy we have added that of hereditary succession;...For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others for ever, and though himself might deserve some decent degree of honors of his contemporaries, yet his descendants might be far too unworthy to inherit them. One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise, she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion.
We are back to the crusades with Richard and John: Paine pulls no punches. He is unafraid to call a king an ass! The absent king was deemed to be a great and fair leader and his brother, his replacement, a very unpopular tyrant spawning Robin Hood who stole from the rich and gave to the poor.
GGG
(T)he givers of those honors could have no power to give away the right of posterity, and though they might say "We choose you for our head," they could not, without manifest injustice to their children, say "that your children and your children's children shall reign over ours for ever."... Most wise men, in their private sentiments, have ever treated hereditary right with contempt; yet it is one of those evils, which when once established is not easily removed; many submit from fear, others from superstition, and the more powerful part shares with the king the plunder of the rest.
There is no such thing as a blue-blooded race of humans.
(We might)... find the first (king) nothing better than the principal ruffian of some restless gang, whose savage manners or pre-eminence in subtility obtained him the title of chief among plunderers; and who by increasing in power, and extending his depredations, over-awed the quiet and defenceless to purchase their safety by frequent contributions?
Is there a word here you do not know? Safety is a peculiar word here. What could it mean? It is the result of maintaining a government that functions well enough to keep the citizens safe. The students will conclude that it is an aspect of the right to life protected by a just government, but this origin story follows real-life actions of Putin's rise to power: planting bombs in theaters and schools and blaming the Chechens. Hitler bombed the Reichstag and blamed the Communists; Trump blamed Hillary and the Democrats for cooperating with Russia to steal the election of 2016. Bill Barr, Trump's Attorney General, planted an investigator at the end of Trump's term to accuse the Biden administration of doing the same when it was Trump who was doing it all along, as the Muller Report actually proved, contrary to Barr's fake news “summarizing” the Report. He ignored the actual narrative by which he succeeded in misleading nearly all the readers of the text itself.
JJJ
Yet I should be glad to ask how they suppose kings came at first? The question admits but of three answers, viz. either by lot, by election, or by usurpation. If the first king was taken by lot, it establishes a precedent for the next, which excludes hereditary succession. Saul was by lot, yet the succession was not hereditary, ... If the first king of any country was by election, that likewise establishes a precedent for the next; for to say, that the right of all future generations is taken away,...(It) hath no parallel in or out of scripture but the doctrine of original sin, which supposes the free will of all men lost in Adam; and from such comparison, and it will admit of no other, hereditary succession can derive no glory.
Usurpation means stealing the throne. the King's seat. The logic is unanswerable: Every king who has held office suffers from an original sin like Adam. The will to power is no substitute for democracy. He is just another person. Or as Paine says in LLL: Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.
PART III
THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS.
MMM
In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense; and have no other preliminaries to settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine for themselves; that he will put on, or rather that he will not put off, the true character of a man, and generously enlarge his views beyond the present day.
How do you comment on that sentence, I ask. The students will eventually see that Paine is making a direct plea for logic and transparency. He is also using the title of his pamphlet to point out that by now he assumes the reader will acknowledge the strength of his arguments.
NNN
The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the affair of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent of at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. 'Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected, even to the end of time, by the proceedings now. Now is the seed time of continental union, faith and honor. The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak; The wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters.
How do you comment on this, I ask. He is enlarging the scope of his argument to include a form of political action that expresses a deep concern for urgency, students might say. It turns out that these sentences reflect a long tradition of political thought which is commonly attributed to Machiavelli in his Discourses on Livy, not the famous Prince. In in the analysis called the Machiavellian Moment by a British historian J.G.A. Pocock: Machiavelli is calling for striking while the iron is hot in colloquial terms: Now is the propitious moment for revolution in America. It will determine the future for the whole continent and the possibility of freedom emanating from the new world to the old monarchies of Europe. Paine is saying that the opportunity could pass and that the growth of freedom will be hindered then ruined if the time for revoltution is allowed to pass.
OOO
I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under her former connexion with Great-Britain, that the same connexion is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than is true, for I answer roundly, that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had any thing to do with her. The commerce, by which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe.
How do you comment on these lines, I ask. Students will see that Paine has complete confidence in the agricultural capacity of America. Europe has depended on the American bread basket and will continue to do so. His wry statement is a welcome characteristic of his style. It turns out that according to Benjamin Franklin the 13 American colonies were doubling in population every generation and according to modern historians their economy was growing faster than any other part of the British empire. It was no accident that the American Revolution had real promise of success.
PPP
Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long at peace, and whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power, the trade of America goes to ruin, because of her connection with Britain.
How do you think about that, I ask It is clear that separation has its advantages when monarchy produces rivalries and wars. TIS TIME TO PART is a strong emotional appeal. Paine is using every available argument to convince his readers to act.
QQQ
As to government matters, it is not in the power of Britain to do this continent justice: To be always running three or four thousand miles with a tale or a petition, waiting four or five months for an answer, which when obtained requires five or six more to explain it in, will in a few years be looked upon as folly and childishness...(B)ut there is something very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than its primary planet, and as England and America, with respect to each other, reverses the common order of nature, it is evident they belong to different systems: England to Europe, America to itself. ...
How do you think about the reasoning here, I ask. The students will conclude that logic is the key to these sentences advocating separation when the Americans are ready for independence. Inconvenience and awkward relations of the continent to the small island and the months-long distance between them are serious obstacles. Finally, leaving the sword to our children is a moral argument that raises the stakes.
RRR
No man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than myself, before the fatal nineteenth of April 1775, but the moment the event of that day was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen tempered Pharaoh of England for ever; and disdain the wretch, that with the pretended title of FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE, can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul.
The Battle of Lexington and Concord in which about 50 Americans and 73 British died was the first blood shed in the American Revolution. It is now the holiday called Patriots' Day, and the date of the Boston Marathon. The Americans used guerilla warfare to pick off the British on the way back to Boston hiding among the trees and behind rocks after the better trained British killed more Americans in traditional battle at Concord.
SSS
But the most powerful of all arguments, is, that nothing but independance, i. e. a continental form of government, can keep the peace of the continent and preserve it inviolate from civil wars.
Independance! Here is the call unheard in America until now. Raising the continent to the level of the Empire on which the sun never sets. Britain already had India which it won from France in the Seven Years War. But Paine is hinting at a broad government. How will it rule, the students might ask. Paine gives us the answer soon enough.
TTT
But where say some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve as monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it is. A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance.
How do you unpack this passage, I ask. The students will see that Paine is calling for the law to be king, not a successor to George III, who has been a tyrant: closing down free speech and free government in the Coercive Acts. He set up admiralty courts without juries to try Patriot law breakers and called for governments in the colonies to sit at the pleasure of the royal governors. So the Law should “wear” the crown not the king. For America THE LAW (must be) KING. For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the Law ought to be King. Symbolically the Law should be “crowned” then broken into pieces and distributed among the citizenry who will thereby become sovereign. No human can be king in a free country. Here is the first direct answer to the sycophantic Trump justices on the Supreme Court. There is no immunity for Trump or anyone else. There is no impunity in a democracy: All citizens are equal. According to the Preamble of the Constitution “We the People of the United States... do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” That is, the people are sovereign. It was not the legislatures of the states, but special conventions in each state that ratified the Constitution in 1787 - 88. No citizen is immune from prosecution at any time no matter his or her office or status.
Paine continues:
A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance....
How do you understand these sentences, I ask. The students will come to the conclusion that Paine is continuing his stance that time is of the essence. He is calling for a constitution to be written as a substitute for the whims of the tyrant. How do you understand natural right, I ask. It is based on nature and the rights of the people to form a government based on the rights of Life, Liberty and equality.
UUU
Ye that oppose independance now, ye know not what ye do; ye are opening a door to eternal tyranny, by keeping vacant the seat of government. There are thousands, and tens of thousands, who would think it glorious to expel from the continent, that barbarous and hellish power, which hath stirred up the Indians and Negroes to destroy us, the cruelty hath a double guilt, it is dealing brutally by us, and treacherously by them.
Do you have any questions about this quote, I ask. In November 1775 the Royal Governor of Virginia offered amnesty to any man enslaved by a Patriot if he would fight for the British against his enslaver. This was a call to insurrection against the Revolution. Similarly, the Native Americans sided with the British against the Patriots who were threatening to take the land from them. By the end of the war, they supported the winning side, the Patriots. The students will come to the conclusion that these alliances were dangerous for the revolutionaries. Paine argued that the British could not be trusted to treat the enslaved men or the Amerindians fairly. In the event many enslaved and free Blacks joined the Continental Army.
VVV
O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and Africa, have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.
How do you interpret these lines, I ask. The emotional impact is astounding. These lines can make you cry. The possibility for freedom and safety from the British monarchy are genuinely inspiring. Democracy is a refuge from tyranny.
PART IV
OF THE PRESENT ABILITY OF AMERICA, WITH SOME MISCELLANEOUS REFLEXIONS.
WWW
I have never met with a man, either in England or America, who hath not confessed his opinion, that a separation between the countries, would take place one time or other: And there is no instance, in which we have shewn less judgment, than in endeavouring to describe, what we call, the ripeness or fitness of the Continent for independance.
Paine repeats the urgency of the Machiavellian moment.
XXX
No country on the globe is so happily situated, so internally capable of raising a fleet as America. Tar, timber, iron, and cordage are her natural produce. We need go abroad for nothing. Whereas the Dutch, who make large profits by hiring out their ships of war to the Spaniards and Portuguese, are obliged to import most of the materials they use. We ought to view the building a fleet as an article of commerce, it being the natural manufactory of this country. It is the best money we can lay out.
The advantages of America are multiplying with each paragraph. There are more to come.
YYY
Some, perhaps, will say, that after we have made it up with Britain, she will protect us. Can we be so unwise as to mean, that she shall keep a navy in our harbours for that purpose? Common sense will tell us, that the power which hath endeavoured to subdue us, is of all others, the most improper to defend us. Conquest may be effected under the pretence of friendship; and ourselves, after a long and brave resistance, be at last cheated into slavery. And if her ships are not to be admitted into our harbours, I would ask, how is she to protect us? A navy three or four thousand miles off can be of little use, and on sudden emergencies, none at all. Wherefore, if we must hereafter protect ourselves, why not do it for ourselves? Why do it for another?
The logic is inescapable.
ZZZ
Youth is the seed time of good habits, as well in nations as in individuals. It might be difficult, if not impossible, to form the Continent into one government half a century hence. The vast variety of interests, occasioned by an increase of trade and population, would create confusion. Colony would be against colony.
Another famous phrase expressing urgency : Youth is the seed time of good habits.
111
In a former page I likewise mentioned the necessity of a large and equal representation; and there is no political matter which more deserves our attention. A small number of electors, or a small number of representatives, are equally dangerous. But if the number of the representatives be not only small, but unequal, the danger is increased. As an instance of this, I mention the following; when the Associators petition was before the House of Assembly of Pennsylvania; twenty_eight members only were present, all the Bucks county members, being eight, voted against it, and had seven of the Chester members done the same, this whole province had been governed by two counties only, and this danger it is always exposed to.
How do you understand this, I ask. Paine describes a potential lack of democracy. He is pointing to the danger of unequal representation. As you may know we still suffer from gerrymanders in our state legislatures and in congress. Both parties use their state legislatures to construct districts in the state governments and in the congress to their advantage. The districts deprive the voters in state after state from the mathematical equality that would make the number of legislators or congressmen proportional to the population reflecting the economic and racial population of the states. As a result the legislatures are unfairly arranged to the advantage of the majority party in each state. Governors, and Senators in Republican states are often the only Democrats elected because the majority of the population of so-called Republican states are actually Democrats and vice versa. These circumstances also occur in the Supreme Court because of the electoral college wins of Republican presidents. The Republicans have not won a presidential vote since George W. Bush in 2004.
444
While we profess ourselves the subjects of Britain, we must, in the eye of foreign nations, be considered as rebels. The precedent is somewhat dangerous to their peace, for men to be in arms under the name of subjects; we, on the spot, can solve the paradox: but to unite resistance and subjection, requires an idea much too refined for the common understanding. ... Were a manifesto to be published, and despatched to foreign courts, setting forth the miseries we have endured, and the peaceable methods we have in
The students will conclude that Paine calls for a declaration of independence.
555
Under our present denomination of British subjects, we can neither be received nor heard abroad: The custom of all courts is against us, and will be so, until, by an independance, we take rank with other nations. These proceedings may at first appear strange and difficult; but, like all other steps which we have already passed over, will in a little time become familiar and agreeable; and, until an independance is declared, the Continent will feel itself like a man who continues putting off some unpleasant business from day to day, yet knows it must be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over, and is continually haunted with the thoughts of its necessity.
How can you comment on this this reasoning, I ask. The students will come to the conclusion that allies will support the Americans only when the they call for independence.The fight for independence will gain support from the enemies of England like France, Spain and the Netherlands. The students will conclude that it will ease the minds of all American Patriots when they stop putting off the decision.
Conclusion
We are now in fight for our democracy against the MAGA Republicans, The question of whether the president is immune from prosecution is in dispute at the the supreme court and therefore also being held up in the Washington DC January 6th case. Separately, the Florida Classified Documents case and the Georgia Fulton Country racketeering election interference case are also being delayed. Trump has managed to delay all but the New York City case which, if he is convicted, could send him to jail for illegally misrepresenting business records. These scandals mis-named the hush money case could have created serious problems for him before the election of 2016. It is a federal crime to falsify business records in New York City, the capital of American commerce. This case may sound like a minor infraction, but the former president is on trial for more than 34 federal counts of election interference. The prosecution is arguing that Trump was afraid that the encounter with the porn star, Stormy Daniels, would destroy his chances for winning the 2016 election, Since it would have come out in the National Enquirer right after the release of the Access Hollywood tape, the audio and video in which he bragged, that since he was a star, he could “grab women by the pussy.” He had Stormy Daniels paid off to prevent the publication of the story. That is a federal crime because he paid to hush up his affair for the purpose of federal election interference.
You might have noticed that Trump has a new hero, Alphonse (Scarface) Capone (as he proudly calls him), who went to jail for tax evasion. He was the perpetrator of the Valentine's Day Massacre and head of a bootlegging ring that sent him to jail for avoiding taxes on 5000 separate violations of the Voorhees Act (prohibition). It ended his career of murder and mayhem. From Hitler to Mussolini to Capone, Trump picks fitting role models. The hero of that successful prosecution is the District Attorney of Manhattan, Alvin Bragg, from Striver’s Row Harlem. The first person of color to hold that office. His press conferences show him to be bluff and clear-minded. In the race to indict and convict Trump and his minions he has had the most success: He already put Alan Weisselberg, his accountant, in jail. Trump is likely to be next. It is fitting and proper that the racist billionaire is being tried by a black man who went to a high school in New York City. No one is above the law: Not even the supposedly richest man ever to be president.
“Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.”
Tom Paine, 1776