- ISBN13: 9780486296029
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Enormously popular and widely read pamphlet, first published in January of 1776, clearly and persuasively argues for American separation from Great Britain and paves the way for the Declaration of Independence. Credited with having changed the minds of many, the highly influential landmark document attacks the monarchy, cites the evils of government and combines idealism with practical economic concerns.
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Glenn Beck, one of the Rupert Murdoch shock jocks, who lacks a college degree and any serious journalistic or political credentials, pretends to write a bi-partisan or libertarian critique of the current political system. The result? More partisan fear mongering.
The book’s supporters are fond of saying, “Beck is sure no friend of George Bush” in propping up its non-partisan chops. However, in a book that only talks about what is bad about government (buildings full of liars, cheats, frauds and hypocrites), his first four chapters only include the names of two contemporary Republicans–Bush (at least a half dozen times) and Rep. Franks–whose sole sin is being elected in a gerrymandered district. On the contrary, Obama is mentioned repeatedly. But the cast of evil characters villified by Beck goes on to include Specter (twice), Dodd, the Kennedys, the Clintons, Dingell, Byrd, Napolitano, Gutierrez, Cuomo, Schumer, Emmanuel (twice), Pelosi, Rangel (3 times), Geithner and the “six Obama nominees.” The number of Democrats responsible for the collapse of America that are not addressed directly by name are far more than I can count. Anybody else seeing a trend here?
And then, the final, dominating chapter, is TITLED “The Cancer of Progressivism.” Hmmm, wander what bunch of government-loving liberals he’s talking about there? The funny thing is the way he disguises his agenda by repeatedly mentioning Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, because of Teddy’s pesky infatuation with the environment and that whole trust-busting thingy. A little one line jab (you have to look closely to find it) at McCain, and then it is off to the races in a libelous attack on everything Democratic (and everything progressive).
The book is not even well written and, with the exception of term limits, offers no real structural or legislative solutions. We just need to change our heart. Come to think of it, he never even gives any imperical examples or statistics to show term limits would work, but I am not criticizing him for the effort there.
In the end, it is a monument to the worship of the almighty dollar. At the expense of the environment, at the expense of the middle class, at the expense of consumers, heck, at anybody’s expense. It’s the dollar. Ultimately, in the world according to Beck, it is why God put us on this earth, uh, country. And the rest of the world? They are just God’s afterthought, who should be thankful we would load them on our Ark of divine political and economic leadership. You know–except for that thing about our system not working.
Rating: 1 / 5
Teri Thomas
philosophy 211
Common Sense Review
Many people have problems with distinguishing between how the government and society effects people in our community. Some people think that peoples lives are effected by what they were taught through interacting with others and some thinks it is by how the country is ran. In the book Common Sense by Thomas Paine, government is defined as an institution whose sole purpose is to protect us from our own vices and society is defined as everything constructive and good that people join together to accomplish.
Thomas’ arguments can be summarized as followed:
1. Government has its origins in the evil of man and is therefore a necessary evil at best.
2. The government’s sole purpose is to protect life, liberty and property, and that a government should be judged solely on the basis of the extent to which it accomplishes this goal.
3. People will be much happier if they are responsible for the creation of the laws that rule them.
4. The Inevitability of American Independence.
5. The Problems with Monarchy.
Though people can have there own decisions, Paine clearly states that he is not fond of government so his whole point of view is going to be biased.He also states that without government, then it would alleviate problems, but how is that so. He never backs it up, it is just from his opinion of not having a government. Another case is first, Paine points out that it would be advantageous for America to form commercial and political ties with these nations. Second, he notes that the current political arrangement of America’s being subservient to Britain precludes the colonies from being able to independently engage in such alliances. He concludes that only if the colonies declare independence, will they be able to reap the opportunities offered by alliance with various European nations. Both of these statements are weak because he can not back them up with relevant information. Paine also thinks of society as everything good that comes out of people living and working together. It is the state of affairs whereby people collaborate to bring about positive aims. In this statement he thinks of society as good, but never says anything bad about the aspects of society. Here is another weak statement.
In Conclusion, Thomas Paine offers some very weak statements of his views of government and society. Instead of going by what he thinks is right, he should acutally do some research and get the real information. That way he could stop assuming.
Rating: 3 / 5
Thomas Paine’s fierce pamphlet is certainly a powerful piece of rhetoric; it is easy to see how his works rallied the colonists to the cause of war.
Paine is on solid ground when he attacks the legitimacy of monarchy as an institution; he skillfully cuts apart monarchist theory, showing how morally bankrupt it is for someone to reign merely because their ancestors won a battle.
Where Paine errs is in his advocacy of violence as means to end British rule. The base of his argument is that since British troops had fired on colonial militias, all legitimacy of the British crown had ended. Furthermore, because human lives had been lost, settling for anything else than full, total, immediate independence would be a “waste” of these casualties.
Here, however, Paine seems to blissfully not care exactly who fires the first shot. If violence by the other side is all that one needs to justify violence — there will be no end to war! Paine goes on further to reject out of hand any concept of a negotiated settlement with the British, arguing that the British government is a snake that could not be trusted, utterly evil and corrupt.
I suspect, however, that Tory colonists, many of whom later found their homes burned, their possessions stolen, and they themselves brutally tarred and feathered and run out of the country, would apply the same harsh description to the rebels. Paine, however, cares little for Tories, whom he dismisses as traitors, even going so far as to call for their execution. He even encloses a harsh appendix aimed at pacifist Quakers who had advocated an end to the violence.
Furthermore, had Paine’s own logic been applied at other times, the blacks of the U.S. South would have been fully justified in taking up arms when policement fired on civil rights marchers. Student protesters against Vietnam could have risen in revolt after the Penn State deaths. One reason neither did so, of course, is because they did not enjoy one advantage Paine boasts of – the advantage of home turf and the ability to outlast the British in a long-term conflict. We should fight, Paine argued, because Britain cannot win a war across an ocean. Accustomed as we are to thinking of Paine as a hero of liberty, is this really all that different from Mao’s “freedom flows from the barrel of a gun”?
Rating: 2 / 5
I have yet to be disappointed, in my life long quest to find the “wisdom of the ages” in the words of the more than 250 founding individuals of this great country of ours. Many of them the spouses, friends and relatives of those freedom fighters so long ago. I often complain about the abhorant conduct of the left i.e. liberals and progressives, who seem to just totally ignore the treasure trove of knowledge and understanding in the writings of our founders. It is ashamed that so many people today read and evaluate these great works based upon their 21st century understanding and their predjudiced and biased life experiences. They ultimately fail to place themselves in an 18th century setting when evaluating. That is the reason so many so-called Constitutional scholars, who may be in possession of many degrees and honorary titles are such bafoons when trying to grasp the heart, character and vision of Amreica. Thomas Paine had a clarity of thought and understanding that escapes so many politicians, special interest groups, judges, and biased media moguls and journalist today. They haven’t got a clue and yet they spout their spin as if they were all knowing and all seeing. Unfortunately so many sheepish citizens eat their misguided words and commentaries up and bow down to the false wisdom of a manipulative media machine. The single most important lesson to take from this offering on “Common Sense” is this “A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable ourcry in defence of custom, and time makes more converts than reason.” Nothing could be more true. Cases in point are the Separation of Church and State, which does not exist in the constitution or our founders writing. Abortion which is an act of murder has become a custom and accepted, buth the death penalty is reviled. The same is true of so many other socially deviant and destructive activities, giving needles and drugs and condemns out etc. All because time has made more converts than has reason, these negative activities have become customary. How sad for America and our posterity. Paine talked about Independence from an oppressive king, but his words fit our oppression from the extreme left and our fall from grace today as well. Paine’s words are wisdom for the ages. If only people would read and listen. This and so many other books should be required reading starting in Middle School and up.
Rating: 3 / 5
Everyone interested in American political history should read Common Sense, the pamphlet distributed to Americans in 1776 arguing against British control of the colonies. Many of the ideas are lifted from John Locke and other political philosophers. The Declaration of Independence suffices for why the Americans revolted, but anyone surveying American history of the Revolutionary period should take a look at this. Great rhetoric.
Rating: 3 / 5