"To argue with a man who has renounced his reason is like giving medicine to the dead."
-Thomas Paine
There is no evidence or incontrovertible proof available to those who choose to cling to irrational prejudice and fear. Like giving medicine to the dead, rational thought and objective observation come too late.
"Better fare hard with good men than feast it with bad"
-Thomas Paine
It is not the relative difficulty or ease, but the caliber of people with which we associate, that shapes the course of our lives.
"I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death."
-Thomas Paine, The American Crisis
Lincoln's time in the White House was marked with personal tragedy and national turmoil as the country convulsed through a horrific and bloody civil war. The genius and power of Lincoln was his ability to maintain his good nature and gather strength in tragedy. His ability to guide a nation through its worst crisis with his own hard-won sense of humility, humor, and simple grace – even "unto death" – sets Abraham Lincoln apart. He is one of the few men that live beyond their own time and "belong to the ages."
"But if objects for gratitude and admiration are our desire, do they not present themselves every hour to our eyes?"
-Thomas Paine, Age of Reason
Hobbes said life was nasty, brutish, and short. There is no question that life is often hard, even nasty and brutish, certainly short. Even so, if you have time for an existential crisis, then then you have reason to be grateful.
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.
"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.
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.
"…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.
"Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man"
-Thomas Paine
We can have a loving God, or a cruel one. The true values of God are reflected in the actions of those whom profess belief.
Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.
-Thomas Paine
And so it appears that the Illinois governor is one ruffian that is now proving his true worth
