Thomas Paine Blog » Thomas Paine Rights of Man http://www.thomaspaineblog.org The First American Blogger l His Words in Today's Context Tue, 14 Dec 2010 01:01:40 +0000 en hourly 1 admin admin The First American Blogger l His Words in Today's Context No No On the Better Use of a Billion Dollars: Corporate Bailouts or Scholarships http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2010/01/26/on-the-better-use-of-a-billion-dollars-corporate-bailouts-or-scholarships/ http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2010/01/26/on-the-better-use-of-a-billion-dollars-corporate-bailouts-or-scholarships/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:12:57 +0000 Thomas Schueneman http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/?p=163 “A nation under a well regulated government, should permit none to remain uninstructed. It is monarchical and aristocratical government only that requires ignorance for its support.”
-Thomas Paine, Rights of Man

Believing that a company is too big to fail, while  the education of the coming generation falters, is an aristocracy of government-by-corporation that cannot last.

]]> http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2010/01/26/on-the-better-use-of-a-billion-dollars-corporate-bailouts-or-scholarships/feed/ 0 On Politics vs. Leadership http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2009/10/15/on-politics-vs-leadership/ http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2009/10/15/on-politics-vs-leadership/#comments Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:36:51 +0000 Thomas Schueneman http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/?p=152 “A little matter will move a party, but it must be something great that moves a nation.”
-Thomas Paine, Rights of Man

Political polarization is not the path to true leadership. When politics refuses to go beyond party at all costs, it remains small, unable to lead. Greatness and leadership is usually found outside the boundaries and comfort of party.

]]> http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2009/10/15/on-politics-vs-leadership/feed/ 0 On Hiding the Truth http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2009/06/16/144/ http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2009/06/16/144/#comments Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:35:44 +0000 Thomas Schueneman http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/?p=144 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 Age of Reason

Truth is onto itself always, requiring nothing, and hiding from no one. Those that aim to deceive others from where truth lay, are its sworn enemy.

]]> http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2009/06/16/144/feed/ 0 On Released Memos Justifying Torture http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2009/04/18/on-released-memos-justifying-torture/ http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2009/04/18/on-released-memos-justifying-torture/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 01:33:42 +0000 Thomas Schueneman http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/?p=142 “An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates his duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”
-Thomas Paine, Rights of Man

Lost in a sea of semantics, twisted interpretations of law, and descriptions of medieval-sounding methods of punishment revealed in recently released Bush-era memos justifying torture is, in truth, a betrayal of the very principles that founded a nation.

Let the terrorist deal in terror. America stands or falls on how it abides by a higher standard.

]]> http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2009/04/18/on-released-memos-justifying-torture/feed/ 0 On Transparency in Government http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2009/04/11/on-transparency-in-government/ http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2009/04/11/on-transparency-in-government/#comments Sun, 12 Apr 2009 02:59:03 +0000 Thomas Schueneman http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/?p=141 A nation under a well regulated government, should permit none to remain uninstructed. It is monarchical and aristocratical government only that requires ignorance for its support.
-Thomas Paine, Rights of Man

It is the government with something to hide, or thinks itself justified in so doing, that we must fear most.

]]> http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2009/04/11/on-transparency-in-government/feed/ 0 On the Servitude of Fear http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2009/03/31/on-the-servitude-of-fear/ http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2009/03/31/on-the-servitude-of-fear/#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2009 03:06:01 +0000 Thomas Schueneman http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/?p=140 “…the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think.” 
-Thomas Paine, Rights of Man

Fear is the enemy of reason. Fear invites suspicion, prejudice, division. 

Overcoming fear is the path to freedom.

]]> http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2009/03/31/on-the-servitude-of-fear/feed/ 0 On the Nature of Ignorance http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2008/06/27/on-the-nature-of-ignorance/ http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2008/06/27/on-the-nature-of-ignorance/#comments Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:41:05 +0000 Thomas Schueneman http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2008/06/27/on-the-nature-of-ignorance/ “Ignorance is of a peculiar nature; once dispelled, it is impossible to re-establish it. It is not originally a thing of itself, but is only the absence of knowledge; and though man may be kept ignorant, he cannot be made ignorant.”
-Thomas Paine, Rights of Man

To be ignorant is not bliss, to remain ignorant is not virtue. To be kept ignorant is cruel.

Tags: , ,
]]> http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2008/06/27/on-the-nature-of-ignorance/feed/ 0 On Whether God Is a Christian http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2008/05/23/on-whether-god-is-a-christian/ http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2008/05/23/on-whether-god-is-a-christian/#comments Sat, 24 May 2008 03:09:58 +0000 Thomas Schueneman http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2008/05/23/on-whether-god-would-be-a-christian/ “Why may we not suppose that the great Father of all is pleased with a variety of devotion? And that the greatest offence we can act is that by which we seek to torment and render each other miserable? …I do not believe that any two men, on what are called doctrinal points, think alike, who think at all. It is only those who have not thought that appear to agree”
-Thomas Paine, Rights of Man

Did God. the great Father, create the vast universe, in all its splendor and diversity, only to have it reduced to the ravings of small men with closed minds, insisting their own limited vision and flawed belief is the only possible way that is pleasing to God?  Is it His desire that in so doing we torture, abuse, and make less than human those who think or believe differently than we?

Can this possibly be what God intended?

It comes in all forms: Fundamentalist Christian, radical Islam, intolerant Secularism.

Faith is a vital component of human happiness, but that is often confused with a belief that one has knowledge of the “one true religion”. It does not exist as long as people are willing to disabuse others in the name of it.

God requires that we be humble. Any religion, or non-religion, is just a flawed worldview trying to make sense of what it ultimately cannot.

God belongs to no religion, sect, or creed. Any such thing is a contrivance of Man. If He is concerned with our petty ranting and raving, it is only to the degree that we would disabuse others in His name.

We have no idea.

Tags: , ,
]]> http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2008/05/23/on-whether-god-is-a-christian/feed/ 0