Invoking Tom Paine To End The War

The latest effort to apply the principles of Thomas Paine to our contemporary world comes from journalist and Denver talk show host Judah Freed . His book, Global Sense, uses the spirit of Paine’s revolutionary rhetoric as, in Freed's words, “a perfect vehicle for talking about how global thinking empowers us for freedom.” Freed was recently featured on C-Span's Book TV and was part of a commemoration earlier this month in Philadelphia of the 231st anniversary of Paine's Common Sense. Since we’re celebrating Paine’s 270th birthday this week, I asked Freed his thoughts on what Paine might think of the antiwar demonstrations this past weekend, the congressional lobbying that took place on his birthday Monday, and the state of our democracy. 

Monday was Thomas Paine's birthday. Born in 1737, he would be 270 years old now. If Paine was alive today, assuming he'd be as feisty as ever, I believe that he would be quite outspoken on the vital issues now in the news.

For instance, Paine would be chiding Congress for being gutless in its opposition to the war in Iraq. He would be telling our elected senators and representatives that they cannot simultaneously vote for a nonbinding resolution against the troop expansion while they continue to approve funds for the war.

Paine would be celebrating the massive antiwar demonstration on the mall in Washington this past weekend. He'd be reminding us that similar demonstrations in the early 1970s eventually persuaded Congress to cut off funding for the war in Vietnam. Only when Congress finally cut off funds did the U.S. war machine finally disengage from taking sides in that civil war.

And just as Paine donated to the Continental Army most of his earnings from sales of Common Sense (published on January 10, 1776), so Paine would be telling us today that the best way to support our troops will be to bring them home from Iraq as quickly as possible.

Being a pragmatist, however, Paine would argue against those who would have U.S. troops pull out immediately, leaving Iraq in chaos and destabilizing the entire region. He'd urge the international community or the United Nations to send in peacekeepers to assist the elected Iraqi government in establishing the security necessary for economic development. Paine would tell us that along with political justice and equality, widespread prosperity is the best guarantor of peace.

Apart from the war in Iraq, Paine would be urging us toward deep reform of the election process. To stop the corruption now rampant in electoral politics, he would invite us to remove all private monies from public elections. He would say that one of the best uses for our taxes would be publicly funded elections.

To ensure that everyone gets a fair hearing, he would encourage us to renew the "fairness doctrine." He'd ask us to develop a viable formula that requires all media using the public airways (especially broadcast radio and TV) to donate equal time to every significant candidate and all sides on ballot issues. He'd also encourage shorter election cycles, perhaps six weeks, so media operators are not unduly harmed for their contributions to the education of the electorate.

Further, Paine would be advocating that we each develop the personal maturity needed to function effectively as informed voters. He would be drawing on the latest lessons from science and economics and politics to remind us that we're all globally interconnected. He would be telling us that our global interactivity means we each create our personal and social reality daily through our thoughts, words and deeds. He would be saying that because we each co-create our world daily by design or default, we might as well do it by design. We might as well develop a global sensibility and live accordingly. Paine would ask us to become mentally, emotionally and spiritually mature enough to practice what I call "mindful self-rule" and "personal democracy," the inner and outer expressions of global thinking.

And once we realize that mature self government makes global sense, Paine would advocate that we graduate from indirect representative democracy into direct participatory democracy. From republics where elected assemblies pass legislation and a king-like president or governor signs them into law, Paine would refute the idea than any king should have final say over public laws.

Just as Paine urged colonists to renounce kings and create the first modern republic, today he would be advancing the idea of "direct republics." He'd encourage us to change the U.S. Constitution so common voters have final approval or ratification of the major new laws passed by our elected assemblies, not any presidents and would-be kings. What if you could have voted for or against the invasion of Iraq? What if you could have voted for or against the Patriot Acts? What if you could have voted on whether the government should be allowed to wiretap civilians and open private mail without court warrants? What if the president never had any opportunity to negate or void congressional legislation with "signing statements" because his (or her) signature was not required for bills to become law?

Yes, if Thomas Paine was alive today, I believe that he would be challenging our presumptions about the role of government and our power to shape the future. He would be telling us that our natural global connectivity makes each one of us globally powerfully. He would be telling us that our inherent global oneness naturally empowers each of us to change the world by changing our own daily choices. Rather than saying we are powerless to make a difference, he would be inspiring us with realistic hope, urging us to push through our fears to accept accept personal and social responsibility for our global power.

Yes, if Thomas Paine was alive today, he would be repeating his immortal line from Common Sense : "We have it in our power to begin the world over again."