Right now. The United States needs more Paine.

SNAPSHOT SERIES (original publish date: August 17, 2017 )

Thomas Paine was the greatest and most important founding father. His ideas were far ahead of their time and changed the face of humanity. His contributions are the true moral, reasonable and spiritual compass of the founding of our Republic. He died ostracized and reviled (i.e feared) by many from all sides of the political spectrum for his truly revolutionary ideas. Only a handful of people attended his funeral. He never owned slaves and was adamantly vocal about abolishing the practice well before the Declaration of Independence was issued.

 Ironically, although he was a deist and leader in the free thought movement, his life in many ways mimicked that of the historical record of Jesus Christ. The power structure of the day, including many of his fellow Founding Fathers found his ideas on freedom, liberty and self-determination to be dangerous and an affront to hegemony.

 Without his writings in the Age Of Reason and the Rights Of Man, our Constitution and Bill Of Rights would have likely looked very different.

 At the very beginning of our Republic, Thomas Paine's vision for what we could be was correct. It still can be. It still is. Everyone citizen who claims to be an American must go learn about Thomas Paine. Now. And after learning about Thomas Paine, if anyone ever found themselves wanting to have a monument to him removed, then they should not call themselves an American.