rssTom Paine Returns
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at 12:30 pm
- 2 Comments
The Tea Party movement seems to have quieted down as Republicans found a more grippable political issue with Guantanamo Bay. Nonetheless, motivational speaker Bob Basso is out with another one of his videos where he plays the resurrected Thomas Paine and rants about liberty and taxes.
Basso achieved some real fame in the run-up to the Tea Parties, getting hired by Fox News to record a special “message from Thomas Paine” for their all-day coverage. This video has sort of sunk without a trace.
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2 Comments
Comment posted May 22, 2009 @ 10:47 pm
I'm a fifth-grade teacher in Colorado, and an crucial part of teaching civics is providing students with our primary sources: the founding documents. This is critical in understanding what “We the People” really means. Today, as they did over 230 years ago, those documents instill in students the belief that all our voices are important. Every one of our citizens are given the right to pursue liberty. Futures do not have to be inevitable and “Little voices” can make dramatic impacts on events. That is Thomas Paine's greatest contribution to our country. His pamphlet, Common Sense, spoke to all the voices in the 13 colonies during a time of great fear and indecision. He gave a vast number of citizens a vision of what each could do, 176 days before the Declaration of Independence. A belief that power should radiate from the citizens. That message is still paramount to all our students today. For that pamphlet alone, Paine needs to be recognized as a integral part of the American miracle.
Mark Wilensky,
author of “The Elementary Common Sense of Thomas Paine: An Interactive Adaptation for All Ages”
Comment posted May 23, 2009 @ 5:47 am
I'm a fifth-grade teacher in Colorado, and an crucial part of teaching civics is providing students with our primary sources: the founding documents. This is critical in understanding what “We the People” really means. Today, as they did over 230 years ago, those documents instill in students the belief that all our voices are important. Every one of our citizens are given the right to pursue liberty. Futures do not have to be inevitable and “Little voices” can make dramatic impacts on events. That is Thomas Paine's greatest contribution to our country. His pamphlet, Common Sense, spoke to all the voices in the 13 colonies during a time of great fear and indecision. He gave a vast number of citizens a vision of what each could do, 176 days before the Declaration of Independence. A belief that power should radiate from the citizens. That message is still paramount to all our students today. For that pamphlet alone, Paine needs to be recognized as a integral part of the American miracle.
Mark Wilensky,
author of “The Elementary Common Sense of Thomas Paine: An Interactive Adaptation for All Ages”
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