I find the current, pointless, sophomoric government shutdown situation annoying at best, and ridiculously pathetic at worst. Recently, I read Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" and realized that, while we are definitely not struggling with secession from a government on another continent, under current conditions our government seems almost equally as far removed and unaware as the colonists felt about the British Crown. Below are my thoughts on the document itself and my subsequent thoughts on its application to the current political climate.
Thomas Paine makes many valid points in his document "Common Sense" that can still be applied and deemed true in today's government debacle. He begins by citing a theoretical example of a society that is forged in a new land though common community needs in which all members equally share and assist each other. He furthers this idea with the notion that as the community grows larger that representatives from each area of the community should be chosen by their peers to represent each area's interests for the good of the whole, and that logically, these representatives should be re-chosen on a regular basis so that all represntatives are active, aware members of their individual communities and its needs. He even goes so far to say that this group of elected representatives should choose a leader, but that it should be via a process that rotates throughout each community, or in this case, colony, so no one area or person has the ability to become too egotistically filled with power and/or detached from the real daily needs and issues of the society as a whole that they represent the interests of. He contines his logic by likening the English monarchy, its rules of aristocracy and hereditary succession, as well as the supposed checks and balances that are in theory, only to the Papacy and the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs. He points out that God should be the only true governing Lord and that the idea of government rulers as heads of both church and state are the same as the practices of heathen religions of ancient times. He further points out that under the colonies' current conditions with the English monarchy, aristocracy, and House of Commons, that their money is simply going to a government that wants to keep them in check to the point of slavery to the Crown. He continues to note that much of the population of the colonies is not of British descent, and seeing as the British government has no affiliation to or understanding of the burgeoning society of America, that being considered British subjects only sets them up to be at odds with any government Britain is at odds with, instead of working with, trading with, and at peace with all other nations which are truthfully represented in the population of the colonies. Paine then makes valid points about the continuation of a government simply because it is what people are accustomed to and not because it is what is appropriate or best for the populace. I particularly liked his point "We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than is true; for I answer roundly that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power taken any notice of her. The commerce by which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe." He also points out the various industries and agriculural ventures in which the colonies have the ability to be self-sufficient, including the building and maintaining of their own naval fleet, and ultimately gives us an initial breakdown of what a Constitution, a Continental Congress, and subsequent American President would be structured like in the best interests of the Colonies and the Colonists themselves.
In my opinion, many of the points made in "Common Sense" are valid and should be readdressed by the American population today. We live under a government that tends to be so far removed from the real, daily lives and issues of most of the citizens in our society, that they appear to spend their time consorting only with those that will line their pockets, keep them in positions of power via buying out the politcal process, and currently, find it okay to argue so much among themselves that the government is in a shutdown period because internal bullheaded quabbling about their own interests and needs has caused an inability to reach any sort of agreement. While the original precepts of our Constitution are still valid, they are being abused and misquoted by this group of narcissist individuals who claim to be looking out for the best interests of the population. As Paine pointed out, force and revolution are only a final, last case option, but under current conditions it would seem that we as citizens need a modern day Thomas Paine figure to bring our government back to its basic senses, back to the roots of those whom they represent, and quite possibly, quietly and logically remove from power those who have made a career of basking in it.
Simply my opinion. I realize that it may ruffle the feathers of some who read it, but theoretically our democracy allows for opinionated freedom of speech, so we are all entitled to our own.
~ The Girl In The Little Black Dress
