Q and A with Thomas Paine

[omega minimo]

Q. Mr. Paine, how do you view the “dumbing down” of America?

A. When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.

Q. In your opinion, are Americans mistaken to assume that their freedoms are guaranteed by the Constitution?

A. Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.

He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself.

When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.

Q. What are the effects of constant political media spin?

A. A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.

Q. How can we get Americans to “wake up”?

A. Time makes more converts than reason.

Q. What are the implications of the military/industrial/Congressional/media complex?

A. To establish any mode to abolish war, however advantageous it might be to Nations, would be to take from such Government the most lucrative of its branches.

Q. At times Americans feel overwhelmed and hopeless, especially in trying to sort the truth from the lies................

A. But such is the irresistable nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants is the liberty of appearing.


Thank you, Mr. Paine, thank you very much.

Have a nice day :patriot:

[idlisambar]

1. he could really give a great line back in the day n/t

[omega minimo]

2. Yep he was a great framer

"back in the day" :spray:

[StellaBlue]

3. Thomas Paine, along with Mary Wollstonecraft, is my hero.

I plan to name my firstborn Thomas Paine, male or female.


Me in Thetford, birthplace of Thomas Paine, about two years ago:

[omega minimo]

4. Cool, StellaBlue

Never heard of Thetford. Was there a home or museum there?

Love the statue-- (flinging the word like a boomerang!)

Thank you :toast:

[StellaBlue]

5. No, I don't think so.

Thetford is in Norfolk, UK. I lived in Essex, not too far away, by American standards. :) Took me about three years to get around to driving up there on my little pilgrimage, though! :)

[omega minimo]

6. Prolly 3 or 4 dialects away.............?

:evilgrin:

[StellaBlue]

8. Yeah, I'd say about that. haha

:)

:hi:

[mikelewis]

7. Very Clever - you should do more of these

I bet a Q & A with Ike would be interesting.

[omega minimo]

9. I like Ike

or Martin :grouphug:

[mikelewis]

12. Definitely Martin...

You can ask him what it was like to experience domestic surveillance, government oppression and hostility from the Reich.

[omega minimo]

13. "Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor"

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.

Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Land Shark]

10. And what might our attitude be toward our country?

"We have it in our power to begin the world anew." --Thomas Paine

[omega minimo]

11. Indeed

:applause:

[Jeffersons Ghost]

14. Paine predicts that suppressing tyranny is a challenge after it arises

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Thomas Paine

[omega minimo]

15. "Character is much easier kept than recovered."

For some reason the lessons in the quote you posted have to be learned over and over again. What would Paine or the Founders have said about that?

"Suppressing tyranny is a challenge after it arises." :spray: Unfortunately it's even more of a challenge AS IT IS arising-- time passes and "What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly."

The attention span is shortened, the spin is spun........

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right."

And here we are.