Thomas Paine...

I just finished Thomas Paine's "Rights of Man" and I have to say Thomas is not only an American Hero, Founding Father, and a brilliant thinker, but he is my hero! I know this may sound corny but if you have read "Rights of Man" and "Age of Reason" and you support the major progressive views of the 21st century then you know exactly why I feel this way! WOW!
I would love to hear from anyone who has read Thomas Paine's writings and anyone who would like to talk about him and his amazing mind!

VOTE Obama 2008!

I could be mistaken, but I think I remember hearing something along those lines.

I'm awaiting a copy of Thomas Paine and the Promise of America by Kaye from the library. I hear it's a wonderful biography.

I agree. Paine is an underrated founder for sure.

...Yes, Thomas Paine did talk of the importance of a social net to protect the poor and elderly. He also spoke against the death penalty. If he had not written "The Age of Reason" he would be viewed as the most important/influential Founding Father...I really think this is true, very very sad but true! The Age of Reason should be taught in PUBLIC SCHOOLS! I have a dream!

...Yes, that is the next reading for me, let me know here what you think of it once you have read it...If you think about I would love to hear your opinion.

and very proud. Was a surprise when relatives did geneology search

he stuck to his guns and said what he thought. He didn't hesitate to change his mind when he saw h was wrong about something.

To top off all of that, he was if I recall correctly, the first and only Founding Father to come out fully against slavery and for women's suffrage.

I would love to meet him and have a chat.

What a chat that would be! Yes, he was very much against slavery! He said it was America's first sin, and tried very hard to convince Thomas Jefferson to declare the new land acquired with the Louisiana Purchase as "Slave Free" and Jefferson refused...I like Jefferson but that is one of those issues that sucks about him.

Thomas Paine damn sure stuck to his guns and it about got his head chopped off in France trying to save King Louis XVI...He spent some time in jail for his stance against capital punishment!

That must have felt really neat to find out you share such good genes! LOL!

:kick: For real American values :kick:

...Benjamin Franklin was the one who "discovered" him if I am not mistaken. In England. I am glad you mentioned Ben because he is right there with Thomas at the top of my list of historical figures I admire!

Reagan hypocritically used a few lines of Paine's patriotic passages in his campaign. As you know his discussion of religion is blasphemous to the RW Christians.

...The Age of Reason is simply truth the Right Wing Christian Nut Jobs can not deal with. The Right Wing fails to understand America was founded on Liberal ideas and continues to move left as time passes. It may not seem that way at the present but 25-50 years from now I HOPE folks will look back and see what we see when we look back 25-50 years and notice how far (LEFT) we have come. We have a further to go but I really feel we will see the move back left after the 2008 elections! HOPE for CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN! Obama 2008!

maybe they would see the truth about America's founding.

(a slander on witches, but Jefferson was far from perfect) when Paine came back to the US the fact that he had single-handedly awakened the people with his Crisis Papers ("These are the times that try men's souls") and saved the Revolution was denied by the Federalist Tories who were then in power. To them he was either a nobody or a dangerous crank. They denied him his due even though the critical importance of his work had been acknowedged during the War by everyone from Washington and Franklin on down ("without the pen of Paine, the sword of Washington would have been wielded in vain" - Adams)

And then, after he died in obscurity, even his bones were lost.

There's a message in that.

...This country owes so much to Thomas Paine! Maybe one day we will be beyond this god thing that blinds so many from seeing reality and truth? I can only hope.

...And then The AGE of REASON!

This is a wonderful interview of Harvey Kaye!

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Thomas+Paine&sitesearch=

I think that Paine's work is of as much value today, as it was when he wrote it.

What a thinker and he never went to college! There are those few folks in life that just "GET IT" without having to learn it...I get a smile every time I think about him and what he did for this country...That smile turns to anger when I think about what the god people have done to his rep.

lesson on the price of insulting those that matter. Too few Americans today know who Thomas Paine was or what he did, and I don't believe that this is an accident.
:kick:

The religious god/jesus fearing nut jobs that run this country have successfully suppressed him and his massive contribution to this country! Just as the "Rights of Man" educated the masses and kick started many changes in this country long after Paine was dead, "The Age of Reason" could do this country a lot of good as well if it were taught in public school!

We need to start a huge campaign to bring Thomas Paine and his work out in the open and build a huge memorial to him in DC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I first read "The Age of Reason" my brian just went...OH.MY.GOD.!! After being raised pretty much a "fundie" this was a real eye-opener. I have a collection of his writings and bios. He and Layfette tried to bring the same ideas in Rights of Man to France but France had other ideas and both men nearly lost their heads at that time. Layfette happened to be in a prison and was later joined by his wife and two daughters. Those were some bad times.

American turned their back on Thomas Paine because of his stance on organzied religion.

Thomas Paine is my hero! We need to start a huge campaign to force the government to recognize Paine in DC with a memorial. I was raised in a fundie house but always got in trouble for asking those questions that religious folks do not like to be asked...I was sent home from Sunday school several times! For some odd reason the god thingy never made sense to me...Once I found out there was no Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy then I knew there was no god. I thought god was just one of those make believe things nobody really believed until I got older and found out folks still believe and will kill for that belief, it shocked me! Still does!

But even as a child the Easter Bunny was never real to me. There is a Thomas Paine Society in New Rochelle, NY. The first time I read "Common Sense" was in the old library in Rodondo Beach, CA. I read it at one sitting. I was floored by it. My 8th grade teacher had mentioned it but I don't recall reading about him in history books. It was as if he was erased from history until recently.