"If There Must be Trouble, Let it be in My Day, That My Child May Have Peace"

The Title to This Article is a Quote by Thomas Paine. 

By Rich Kozlovich

 

We are a people who has more information available, from more sources, that is easily and readily available, than any other people in the history of the world.  And we know less.  I used to be shocked at people's historical ignorance, foolishly believing just because I knew things,  everyone else must know these things.   Now I'm just dismayed.

Oh, I know, most people don't read much these days.   Most no longer read books, and even fewer read history books.  It's certainly not taught in public schools, and absolutely not in institutions of "higher education" these days, which need to be defunded.  Worse yet, many schools and institutions are  teaching the corruption of history based on fallacious writings from a book that contaminated an entire generation of America's youth, A People's History of the United States, which my friend attacks with factual gusto showing his work is corrupted with leftist ideology. 

You may wish to read her books, Debunking Howard Zinn: Exposing the Fake History That Turned a Generation against America, and, Debunking the 1619 Project: Exposing the Plan to Divide America

So, let's talk about Thomas Paine.  Who was Thomas Paine?  Why was he important in American history?  Why is he important now?  

Truthfully, I'm not even sure if anyone under 70 is taught enough accurate history in school to know who Thomas Paine even was, let alone his importance to American history.  So much that was written and expressed by the Founding Fathers of America about the tyranny imposed on the American colonies is now applicable to the tyranny the American government is imposing on the American people.  So let's get started.

Thomas Paine "authored Common Sense (1776) and The American Crisis (1776–1783), two of the most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution, and helped inspire the patriots in 1776 to declare independence from Great Britain.  His ideas reflected Enlightenment-era ideals of transnational human rights."

We've heard the term at some time in our lives, "these are the times that try men's souls", but do you know where that came from?  That was from The Crisis, a part of the American Crisis collection of articles, all of which can be found here, and listed at the end of this article, written by Thomas Paine during the American Revolutionary War. 

In 1776 Paine wrote Common Sense, an extremely popular and successful pamphlet arguing for Independence from England.  At the time Paine wrote “Common Sense,” most colonists considered themselves to be aggrieved Britons.  Paine fundamentally changed the tenor of colonists’ argument with the crown when he wrote the following:  “Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America.  This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe.  Hither they have fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still.”

These essays were so profound Washington required their reading for his troops at Valley Forge because the American Revolution was in a state of crisis, economically and militarily, and the colonists overall were not yet Americans.  They considered themselves to be British subjects living in the American colonies of Great Britain.  That needed to be overcome.  

Here are some quotes from his work which I think are fundamental in understanding the tyranny being imposed on the nation right now, whether it's CRT, vaccination mandates, mask mandates, global warming, energy production or each and every other crisis of the moment being promoted by the left. 

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 everything its value ............'Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country...........If we believe the power of hell to be limited, we must likewise believe that their agents are under some providential control........ I call not upon a few, but upon all: not on this state or that state, but on every state: up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake. 

By perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue; by cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a variety of evils - a ravaged country - a depopulated city - habitations without safety, and slavery without hope -.............. Look on this picture and weep over it! 

The Boyd Principle (To Be or To Do: Which Way Will You Go?) states at some point in our lives we come to a fork in the road and must make a decision. If you take one path you will be popular and you will be rewarded. If you take the other path you will be criticized, ridiculed and scorned. However, you won’t have to turn your back on your friends or your principles. 

If you are more concerned with accomplishing that which is right and best - the satisfaction for having stood against the conventional wisdom on right principles will be your reward - and you may actually accomplish something worthwhile.  However, that means taking a stand against conventional wisdom and popular belief, and let's face it, heterodoxy isn't for the faint of heart.  

For those who haven't already looked up what heterodoxy means:   

It's not conforming with accepted or orthodox standards or belief.  

It means standing up and telling the world, you're all wrong, and I'm going to tell you why!  That isn't for the faint of heart.  What does it take to be a heterodox and stand against the conventional wisdom, or should I say "consensus" wisdom?

All it takes is being right.   Knowing the subject well, being able to prove you're right.  Not being afraid to be right.  Unafraid to prove you're right.  Finally, and most importantly, the fearless willingness to be un-liked, all the while being attacked for your stand.  The willingness to man the wall, defending what you know to be true and right just as long as it takes, telling the world, "no one will harm you on my watch".

Once you've reached that point - everything else becomes much easier. As Andrew Breitbart once said: 

"Walk toward the fire. Don’t worry about what they call you. All those things are said against you because they want to stop you in your tracks. But if you keep going, you’re sending a message to people who are rooting for you, who are agreeing with you. The message is that they can do it, too."

Editor's Note:  This article, The Terminating of America, by Scot Faulkner was sent to me for publication by another correspondent and friend giving historical background on what the left is doing and how it came into being, the and the are nothing more than an extension of New Deal, which was a redux of the fascist system imposed on the nation during WWI by America's first fascist President,

The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, and Coolidge. She has also written, Great Society: A New History, which is still unread on my self.  Also well worth the time is Diana West's American Betrayal, along with Stalin's Secret Agents: The Subversion of Roosevelt's Government  by M. Stanton Evans and Herbert Romerstein.

• The American Crisis: December 23, 1776
  
• The American Crisis: Philadelphia, Jan. 13, 1777
  
• The American Crisis: Philadelphia, April 19, 1777
  
• The American Crisis: Philadelphia, Sept. 12, 1777
  
• The American Crisis: Lancaster, March 21, 1778
  
• The American Crisis: Philadelphia, Oct. 20, 1778.
  
• The American Crisis: Philadelphia, Nov. 21, 1778
  
• The American Crisis: Philadelphia, March, 1780
  
• The American Crisis: Philadelphia, Oct. 4, 1780
  
• The American Crisis: Philadelphia, March 5, 1782
  
• The American Crisis: Philadelphia May 31, 1782
  
• The American Crisis: Philadelphia, Oct. 29, 1782
  
• The American Crisis: Philadelphia, April 19, 1783