Source: Common Dreams
by Harvey J Kaye & Matt Strackbein
“Contributing fundamentally to the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the struggles of British workers in the Industrial Revolution, Thomas Paine was the greatest radical of a truly radical age. Yet this son of an English artisan did not become a radical until his arrival in America in late 1774 at the age of thirty-seven. Even then he had never expected such things to happen. However, struck by America’s startling contradictions and magnificent possibilities, and moved by the spirit and determination of its people to resist British authority, he dedicated himself to the American cause …. As Paine saw it, Americans could show the world that humanity had no need for kings and overlords, indeed, that common people, working people, could govern themselves!” [editor’s note: With this title and this beginning, you might be expecting a libertarian tract, but it goes all downhill from here – SAT] (10/24/24)