Common Sense

Rating:
Summary: Timely
Review: With all that's going on in the world right now, AND all that's going on with our government - this book is very timely. Who would've thought so many passages would reflect the way our government needs to be right now? I was delightfully surprised to read paragraph after paragraph and be able to tie it in to today's world.
I think our government should read this so they can figure out what they should be doing rather than what they are doing.


Rating:
Summary: A Poetic Argument for a Call to Arms
Review: In "Common Sense", Thomas Paine lays out his argument as to why the United States of America should, nay, MUST, declare its independence from Britain. In the traditional vein of revlutionary writers, Paine's pamphlet is a beautiful example of the English language at its most poetic. He states the need for independence best when he says, "The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'TIS TIME TO PART."
This pamphlet is a must read for anyone interested in American history. Most everyone can recall their US History textbooks mentioning "Common Sense". This pamphlet was first published in 1775 and inspired our Founding Fathers, especially Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Additionally, anyone who is interested in reading about the history of revolutions in general would do well to read this amazing argument.

Rating:
Summary: the reasons we became
Review: Some of the things in society are discouraging. At that time there were discouraging things too. The diffence between now and then is that there were people like Thomas Paine who stood up and did something about it. An extremely inspiring manefesto.

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Summary: American political thought at its best
Review: The effect of Paine's monumental work Common Sense on the spirit of the American Revolution can never be measured. This work, originally a pamphlet, inspired and gave courage to the cause of independence, and presented the case for separation from Britain in such a way that it was difficult not to see his point. Paine was a visionary because he recognized that a union between Britain and America could never continue, and that reconciliation (after the conflicts in Boston and other places) would never be possible. This book was read and admired by Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and many other founding fathers, and its precepts did not go unnoticed by these great men.

Today, Paine's thinking is still relevant. His basic thesis that there is a difference between society and government still rings true today. As Paine points out, a society enriches our virtues, but government must restrain our vices. Paine's theory (at the beginning of the work) on the necessity of government, and his idea that the government is best which protects its people at the least possible cost to personal liberty, is just as interesting and inspiring today as it was 225 years ago. This pamphlet is applicable today as well as then because Paine believed that men should be good, and that this was the ultimate principal of successful government. "Of more worth is one honest man to society," he says, "and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived." The world would be a better place if we all had a little Common Sense.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, read it!
Review: This book is an absolute classic of politcal philosophy. Its a quick read and very interesting. You should read this book, period!

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Summary: An Interesting Look At The Opinions Of The Past
Review: This Review refers to the paperback edition of Common Sense (Dover Thrift Editions), composed by Thomas Paine.

Many consider Paine's Common Sense to be a great American document, an opinion developed even at its original publication. The Dover Thrift Edition contains the third edition of the original pamphlet, including two brief segments that follow it. Paine's work was meant to stir up the American colonists and serves as one of the earliest examples of American propaganda. It first explains the author's impressions of the founding of types of governments, and why monarchy in particular is wrong, after which he proceeds to discuss reasons why the American colonies should break away from British control. The last topic he goes into is the ability of the colonies to gain their independence and some possible guidelines as to how the new government could form. The segments following Common Sense are a brief patriotic rambling and an attack against a Quaker who published a pamphlet supporting the king. Also included is a high praising introduction preceding the work.

Paine's work is a rather stirring one, which, at the time, would have given rise to the inward feelings of independence undoubtedly felt by many of the colonists. It does an admirable job of what it was intended to do. The ideas provided on how a government should reach creation are interesting, and are, undoubtedly, some of the ideals that the original government based itself. However, there are discrepancies and exaggerations in the said work and the reader should tread lightly.

The literary style presented by Paine is one of contradictory tones and unrestrained enthusiasm. The author does not appear to consider all the consequences relating to the subject of independence. However, he also brings many considerations to light, compelling the reader to think about the consequences of government and governmental practices. The literary style presented after Common Sense contains underlying tones of anger and reiterates many of the statements presented in the preceding selection.

Common Sense is an interesting look at the opinions of the colonists at the time of the revolution, and should be required reading for those interested in the said era. Though the literary style is lacking, it still presents an interesting argument in, rather appealing, old English. Overall, Common Sense is a good work and presents what the founders of modern America were attempting to accomplish, as well as how they intended to accomplish it.

Rating:
Summary: A True Patriot
Review: This work of Thomas Paine is at the least a Masterpiece and a very important part of the history of the world. The fury and passion of this work (and his others), are awe inspiring.

Hes truly one of the greatest figures in American and World History, and this work inspired men and women under the rule of a King to rise up and form the greatest nation to ever bless the Earth.

Rating:
Summary: A True Patriot
Review: This work of Thomas Paine is at the least a Masterpiece and a very important part of the history of the world. The fury and passion of this work (and his others), are awe inspiring.

Hes truly one of the greatest figures in American and World History, and this work inspired men and women under the rule of a King to rise up and form the greatest nation to ever bless the Earth.

Rating:
Summary: uncommon prose
Review: Thomas Paine declared, "In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense...."
And with those words he lit a flame that burns to this day: the United States.
In Common Sense, he combines gumption and perspicuity as he introduces his origin of government and society; and ends with a call for the immediate declaration of independence by the colonists.
He also delivers a biblical rebuke of monarchies, which to me was the most engaging part of the book.
Paine has an eye for detail, with a command of English history. These gifts, as well as fervor for his cause, cover up his ignorance of the specific grievances of the colonists.
Moreover, ON THE PRESENT ABILITY OF AMERICA, he gets obtuse and is bogged down in detail about the Navy's strength.
Nevertheless, even with these minor imperfections, Common Sense is a gem whose value is increased by its impurities.
A history of America is incomplete without Paine's magnum opus.

Rating:
Summary: Every American Should Read "Common Sense"
Review: Thomas Paine's January 1776 pamphlet, "Common Sense," is one of those documents of American culture which goes all too frequently neglected these days. Paine's insistent call for independence from Great Britain in the winter before the Second Continental Congress was instrumental in mobilizing public opinion and popular support for political and economic freedom. Economics and social values form the basis of Paine's critique of the British presence in the American colonies, and he never loses sight of either his purpose or his rationale throughout the course of his argument. "Common Sense" follows a logical schematic - from a general philosophical explication of human government, to a critique of the current state of British government, to an analysis of the American situation particularly, and even includes a general plan for an independent American government following independence. "Common Sense" is remarkable for Paine's diagnosis of the American situation, Paine having been only 14 months in the colonies when it was published, and for its eloquence and exhortative value.

Paine begins by outlining human nature as he sees it. In a fascinating inversion of Thomas Hobbes, he notes that monarchy at the present time creates a situation wherein government is as effective as it would be if there were no government at all. The nearly anarchic state of nature defies the logical purpose of government. Paine says that people form societies naturally, and form governments only because human morality is not perfect. The end of government is to protect the right to property and religious freedom. Paine favours a representative democracy wherein there is frequent turn-over, and where the common interests of the people are consulted and catered to. Finally, he argues for the rule and sovereignty of law against the arbitrary and absurd rule of kings and men.

He contrasts this with the British model, in which government seems only to serve the interests of the King and the aristocracy. Taxation, as a primary example, allows hereditary rulers, who are inherently removed from the interests of the industrious people they govern, to live off their subjects without contributing anything of substance to the society or the polis. Paine insists that the province of government is not to regulate the lives of the citizens; instead, it must create and protect an arena where free competition in the marketplace will allow people to pursue their own best interests. With a minimum of government, civil society, Paine believes, can administer itself. In one of his most clever lines, Paine says that if an American government can only see to the protection of its own economy and exports, it will flourish "and will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe".

The impetus for "Common Sense" is the current of thought that suggested reconciliation with Britain is preferable to independence. In an American public sphere anxious about its relationship to Britain, Paine provides encouragement to debate and discussion with all the subtlety of a street-corner millennarian. Citing the inevitability of a split between the colonies and Britain, and emphasizing that the legacy of America is at stake in the choices of the present moment, Paine calls the drive to independence "the cause of all mankind". In persuasive and urgent, nearly prophetic language, Paine makes a case for the political, economic, and historical implications of American independence.

Of course, "Common Sense" is not without its problems. Paine's discussion of natural and artificial distinctions within society and government is problematic at its intersections with gender and race. Paine's strange thematic of government and prostitution reflects 18th century gender standards; and he never seems comfortable with the issues of African slavery in America or the 'problem' of Native Americans. In this context, it is easy to see, in Paine's assessment of whether independence should be pursued now or later, a prefigurement of the political and economic bases of the American Civil War. Isaac Kramnick's extensive and exhaustive introduction to this Penguin Classics edition of "Common Sense," though nearly 30 years old, sets Paine's achievement in firm and understandable contexts of its philosophical, historical, and biographical origins. An excellent edition of a work that every American, if not everyone, owes it to themselves to read.