Wanted: A New Common Sense for 2026

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Thomas Paine

Echoes of America: Digging into the past to understand the present.

We Need “Common Sense” Again

This Saturday marks the 250th anniversary of the most dangerous pamphlet ever written. When Thomas Paine published Common Sense in 1776, he didn’t just complain about the King; he gave the “grassroots” poor a roadmap to blow up the system.

Looking at the country this week, it feels like we are overdue for a sequel. We have the anger—from the demonstrations against ICE enforcement to the standoffs over federal authority—but we currently lack the roadmap. The grievances are piling up, the power grabs are visible, but we haven’t found our one unifying argument yet.

Assignment 1: Read the Original

If you haven’t read it since high school (or ever), read it now. It is shorter than you think and sharper than you remember. It wasn’t written for professors; it was written for people drinking in taverns.

Read Full Text (Project Gutenberg)

Assignment 2: Write the Sequel

Paine’s genius was explaining why the system was broken in plain English. I want you to help me draft the “Common Sense” for 2026.

  • The Grievance: What is the one “obvious” truth that our leaders are ignoring today?
  • The Solution: Paine said “Independence.” What is our one-word solution today?
  • The Tone: Paine was rude, funny, and mean. Give me your best “Paine-style” insult for the current establishment.

Still Need the Dirt

I am still collecting obscure facts and “Deep Dirt” on Paine himself for the upcoming video tribute. If you find a detail that proves he was the original rebel, drop it in the comments below.

“We have it in our power to begin the world over again.” — T. Paine, 1776. (Let’s see if he was right.) — Craig

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81 thoughts on “Wanted: A New Common Sense for 2026”

  1. Thomas Paine Political Cartoons

    The following shows over 100 political cartoons of Thomas Paine. Some positive and many negative, the cartoons, paintings, sketches and more are a vivid example of how Paine’s enemies in the British monarchy, with it’s ruthless propaganda machine, and some anti-democracy Americans too attacked Paine in print. Supporters also fought back with some of their own, as you will see. If you have found other political cartoons that should be included in our collection, please get in touch with us at info@thomaspaine.org.
    [continues with said ‘toons including the following as an example]

    “Contrasted Opinions of Paine’s Pamphlet” is a 1791 intaglio by Frederick George Byron. Eight public figures are depicted reading excerpts from Rights of Man and reacting to them. Charles James Fox, Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Mary Wollstonecraft are the three supporters of Paine’s writings while the rest deplore them – American Philosophical Society

  2. one more (and more current than the others) from that thomas paine cartoons collection

    “Hebdo” by ‘Polyp’, from his 2022 verbatim graphic novel ‘PAINE: a fantastical visual biography’. This echoes the similarities between how Paine was threatend with the death penalty for blasphemous libel, because of the contents of ‘The Age of Reason’, and how the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists were punished with death for their blasphemy – PAINE: a fantastical visual biography

    BTW wasn’t this war on cartoonists (for depicting the prophet) what moved the New York Times to no longer publish political cartoons?

  3. tom paines of today: our late night comedians


    Trump’s propaganda machine wants you to believe the killing of Renee Nicole Good wasn’t a senseless and predictable crime committed by our government, artificial intelligence is creeping into the health care system in dubious ways, and a $5,000 smart toilet that can call for help is the best new gadget of the year.


  4. Minneapolis tells ICE to “get the f**k out” after an agent fatally shot a woman, Kristi Noem smears the victim as a terrorist while MAGA decides she deserved it, and Ronny Chieng questions ICE’s PR push to recruit highly aggressive, unqualified agents and unleash them on American cities.


  5. Jimmy talks about the horrible shooting of a woman in Minneapolis by an ICE officer, the full force of the White House and right wing commentators trying to convince us that this woman was part of a left wing terror effort, Trump falsely posting that the victim Renee Good “ran over an ICE officer,” Kristi Noem saying that it was an act of domestic terrorism, JD Vance doing his best to defend the indefensible, we got a copy of Stephen Miller’s high school yearbook which is very interesting, we see what the parents of some of our staffers think they should be working on in the new year, and This Week in Unnecessary Censorship.

  6. Spirit of Tom went right by my house last night. Wish I had known but it was a “flash mob” — I need to get on their text list.

    They marched just two blocks away from U St to the White House…

  8. No one should be surprised by Kristi Noem’s comments about Renee Good. Sociopaths often start by killing small animals.

  10. On those negative cartoons about Thomas Paine — he became a pariah in later life (i don’t think we even know where he was buried). He pissed off Christians in his barnburner, The Age Of Reason, called it a mythology and concluded the bible is fake. He also griped a lot about George Washington. All the more reasons to remember him.

  12. Trump plans White House addition to West Wing

    By Jonathan Edwards and Dan Diamond
    Edwards and Diamond have been covering the White House’s ballroom project. They are reachable securely on Signal at jle.11 and dan_diamond.01.
    President Donald Trump plans to build his controversial ballroom as tall as the White House’s main mansion itself, the project’s chief architect told a federal review committee Thursday — a significant change of plans that breaks with long-standing architectural norms requiring additions to be shorter than the main building.

    Architect Shalom Baranes told the National Capital Planning Commission that the president’s plans call for the building to be about 51 feet high on its north side and taller on the south, where the ground slopes downward. The main mansion reaches 70 feet on the south side, according to the White House Historical Association.

    Baranes also estimated the project’s footprint would be about 45,000 square feet, roughly half the size that the administration has described since announcing the project in July. Of that, the ballroom itself would account for about 22,000 square feet and accommodate roughly 1,000 seated dinner guests, he said. Baranes said the 90,000-square-foot size repeatedly cited by White House officials includes a second floor — a clarification introduced as federal oversight bodies begin an accelerated review of a project for which core specifications continue to evolve.

  15. Stur is getting good at onomatopoeia

    To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
    From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
    Bells, bells, bells—
    From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

  17. Thomas Paine is not in one single place; he was first buried on his farm in New Rochelle, NY, but his bones were exhumed by William Cobbett in 1819 and taken to England, where they were eventually scattered, with pieces ending up in various locations, including some in Australia, making his final resting place a mystery.

  18. Reminded that Gore Vidal had quite a bit of criticism of old George, too.

    See his historical novel BURR.

    Even if you’ve read it—have you read it LATELY?

    lol

  19. We only kidnap little bitty pushover dictators. We don’t kidnap the Bears—we only kidnap the chipmunks.

    And we only shoot little girls and puppies.

  22. I read it when I was young and on the road in and out of Nashville. Somehow on one of our trips it came up in conversation and Jimmy Sam Gray, the bassist, on the next trip out says, “I brought BEER.” I only found out later he was talking about BURR, the book. Anyway, I read it on the road and don’t remember much except feeling thank god for Gore Vidal.

    It was Jimmy Sam, Cherokee from Oklahoma, who sang the harmony with Townes on the song “Dead Flowers” which played at the end of “The Big Lebowski” as the credits rolled.

    It’s been said many times, by many people: god bless Jimmy Sam Gray.

    Kristi Noem is declaring war on several of the United States’ states.
    “You have no jurisdiction when one of our Brown Shirts murders one of your uppity peasants. Ya got yer billionaires—ya got those who serve them—and ya got yer peasants.

  23. We should also start calling Leaky Pete, the ‘roided-up “war fighter” (who never actually fought, but expects boots on the ground in Venezuela and beyond) Pete Hague-seth.

    I suspect Pete Hague-seth would love nothing more than to engage in battle on US streets.

    They are all sociopaths. That’s why they think they can get away with their cruelty forever. They are delulu in a dangerous way. (It also tells you that they don’t actually believe in God/Jesus/Christianity.)

    Their uppance will come, as will the big, beautiful obituary for the rapidly-deteriorating, orange blob. He might escape consequences by going cold; the rest will face justice.

  27. Craig,
    I double checked and the book “Destiny of the Republic” by Candace Millard was the basis for the Netflix mini series “Death by Lightning”. I love the subtitle, A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President. The main takeaway is the long term effect on the nation of the brilliance of Garfield being followed by a surprise such as Arthur

  28. “Paine became notorious because of his pamphlets and attacks on his former allies, who he felt had betrayed him.” – Wiki

    *T Paine would’ve been rage posting at 3am like someone else does, had he lived in these times.

    From Pamphlets to Posts: Clapping back across the ages

    Do you suppose any of those cave drawings were trash-talk aimed at other cave dwellers?

  29. TODAY’S CHAT RUNDOWN

    NOTE: Audio gremlins at the start. Please skip to 1:09 (one minute, nine seconds) for the start of the show.

    Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” turns 250 just as modern America argues over what that means. Plus: ICE crackdowns, Jesse Ventura’s warning.

    00:00 Technical Setup (Audio Gremlins)
    01:09 Show Start: Thomas Paine’s Anniversary
    04:12 ICE Enforcement: Minneapolis to New Orleans
    18:45 Steven Miller & The “Handmaid’s Tale”
    38:30 Jesse Ventura’s Warning: “Third World Country”
    42:15 The “Common Sense” Sequel
    55:00 Ken Burns: “Begin the World Over Again”

    Watch the replay:

  31. https://www.themirror.com/entertainment/celebrity-news/kristi-noem-ice-shooting-renee-1608107

    Pablo Manríquez of Migrant Insider caught up with Seth outside the Capitol the same day of the murder and asked for the lawmaker’s reaction to Kristi’s comments.

    “What do you make of Kristi Noem calling Renee Good a domestic terrorist?” Pablo asked, to which Seth replied, “Kristi Noem’s an idiot, right? Like, she went on TV before any of the facts were in.

    “She made up this story on TV about ICE agents trying to dig their truck out of the snow or something, which was clearly false. Like she didn’t even realize that there was gonna be video of what happened when she went up and gave a false story,” he pointed out.

    “Everybody in the Trump administration lies, but she’s not even good at the lie, right? And we’ve seen that over and over again.

    “So, you know, it would be ridiculous, it would be funny if it wasn’t so sad and tragic, because actual people’s lives are being ruined and in some cases ended by the lawlessness of the administration.

    “And, again, like, if they had just done what they said they would do and just focus on people with serious criminal records, no one would be complaining, but they can’t help themselves,” he concluded.

  32. There’s another video from MN. She was very nice & said “I’m not even mad.” Her partner was filming outside the car & that’s what set the murderous incel off.

    No wonder men are lonely.

  33. Of all the comments and reels, Jesse Ventura’s hit me hardest: Jesse was a Navy Seal at Subic Bay during the Viet Nam conflict. He states he has seen third world countries and we have become one. ICE has the budget greater that 3 of the US military branches, according to a report I heard but did not vet. Vance has promised to “get tougher” with ICE becoming immediately more-empowered, and Vance said “we are going to be knocking on doors…”, also, I heard this on MSNOW but I did not see it myself.
    Today early, the Trump Crime Syndicate sent 500 more ICE into Minneapolis. This was the response to Mayor Frey’s call for ICE to “get the fuck out of Minnesota.”

  34. Thomas Paine was the original “influencer” who convinced America to dump the King. His reward? We let him die broke, denied him a monument, and literally lost his skeleton.

    We are kicking off the celebration of the 250th anniversary of Common Sense by digging into the C-SPAN archives. We sit down with the keepers of the digital vault to track down the “original radical,” discuss why his bones are scattered across the globe, and give you a tutorial on how to use the C-SPAN clipping tool to uncover history yourself.

    The Trail Mix Thomas Paine Festival Starts Here:

  36. Jamie, at least Arthur championed Garfield’s civil service reform despite being a product of the spoils system himself. But our current regime is changing all that.

  38. WANTED FOR TREASON. 📜

    250 years ago tomorrow he risked his neck to give us “Common Sense.”

    The hidden history of Thomas Paine (and why he had to hide his name):

  39. There was a Broadway musical about the Marcos’ regime, from their origins to the finish, called “Here Lies Love” (which is what Imelda wants on her tombstone, allegedly).

    After November of 2024, my friends and I felt like we’d been given a primer for what was to come in the US.

    When Jesse Ventura said he was in the Philippines when Marcos took over, and suddenly there were soldiers with guns everywhere…here, it’s ICE/bounty hunters.

    The budget for ICE goons is obscene, especially since the US won’t keep folks housed, fed, and healthy, and instead it’s used against the folks paying the taxes that fund it.

  40. Even with a bloated budget, ICE is so hard-pressed they put untreated unrecovered PTSD-cases back in the field with their hair-trigger temper and a gun.

  42. A question for those who know more, probably a lot more, than I do. Why is sfb giving open interviews to the media, even a few that are not owned by the oligarchs? This is daily, not the usual never without cash up front. His staffed used to keep him from demonstrating live and in public his mental prowess and insane thoughts.

    Is it they are looking at 2547 or 8647? Or is it they are looking at how hitler took power?

  43. door-to-door house checks

    My “No Solicitation Allowed”-policy HOA will have something to say about that!

  48. I noticed JD has Marco Rubio eyes now

    That’s what they look like when your soul dies

    you have to look past the mascara to see them on JD though

  52. Order 1081 likely refers to Proclamation No. 1081, which was the formal declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines by President Ferdinand Marcos on September 21, 1972. This proclamation marked the beginning of a 14-year period of authoritarian rule in the country.
    The proclamation allowed Marcos to rule by military power. It enabled the government to arrest individuals without warrants and control various aspects of governance.
    General Orders
    General Order No. 1: The President directed the entire government and exercised all powers of his office.
    General Order No. 2: Authorized the Minister of National Defense to arrest individuals named in a specific list.
    General Order No. 3: Mandated that all executive departments and agencies comply with the orders issued under Martial Law.
    General Order № 4 – The President ordered that a curfew be maintained and enforced throughout the Philippines from twelve o’clock midnight until four o’clock in the morning.
    General Order № 5 – All rallies, demonstrations and other forms of group actions including strikes and picketing in vital industries such as in companies engaged in manufacture or processing as well as in production or processing of essential commodities or products for exports, and in companies engaged in banking of any kind, as well as in hospitals and in schools and colleges are prohibited.
    General Order № 6 – No person shall keep, possess or carry outside of his residence any firearm unless such person is duly authorized to keep, possess or carry any such firearm except to those who are being sent abroad in the service of the Philippines.

    *Waiting for the A2 folks, especially the open carry crowd, to figure out they may not be allowed to keep pewpews.

  54. Did the the ICE murderer have a body cam? Would like to see that instead of his cellphone video.

    I’d also like to know what drugs the administration is on, because many of them seem to be increasingly up/down/unhinged.

    The more control they lose, the more desperate they’ll get, the more they’ll need to use.

    The claim he feared for his life was undermined by his nasty, parting words to his victim. His state of mind was not of a fearful man, but of an angry one.

  60. https://www.newsweek.com/renee-nicole-good-wife-statement-ice-shooting-minneapolis-11338949

    Renee Good’s wife speaks out after fatal ICE shooting: Full statement

    I urge you to read it, but the ones who need to read this last part, especially, are the fascists pretending to be Christians.

    “We honor her memory by living her values: rejecting hate and choosing compassion, turning away from fear and pursuing peace, refusing division and knowing we must come together to build a world where we all come home safe to the people we love.”

  62. The Lie has been put to Vice and Gnome. Can it break through the Machine of Propaganda? That is the question and the test.

  64. “We can kill you if you disagree with us. That’s their position.”
    -Adam Serwer on Chris Hayes, MSNow.

  66. I will just say that she was very goddamn foolish if she didn’t understand that she was risking her life putting herself in that position if she did put herself in that position voluntarily

    I’d say the same thing if somebody taunted a wild animal

  67. it’s law of the jungle now and people need to be really smart if they wanna make a positive change in the other direction

    peace peace peace calm calm calm

  68. see me as someone who understands how cops think knows that he didn’t put his hand in the car to open the door. He put his hand in the car to give himself justification for use of deadly force because he knows it’s been adjudicated in the past that a car driving away while the cops body part is in the car constitutes reasonable fear of bodily harm

    be smart

  71. Blaming the victim? Even if she had committed a crime of some sort and he was an actual cop, shooting her point blank was not legal nor justified in any way.

    Just be quiet ladies. Don’t upset the snowflakes in tactical gear. That line of thinking is tantamount to saying a rape victim was asking for it by the way she was dressed.

    The saddest exhibit I ever saw was called, “What I Was Wearing.” In the beginning it was high-cut shorts and low cut dresses, then jogging gear, and the a little girl’s dress. At what point in the exhibit, I wondered, did some stop blaming the victim.

    Would the words her partner said have landed differently had she been a man? Listened to a show with family; someone from the radio they liked was on TV for a year-in-review thing on PBS. Several men and one woman. A couple of the men said things that were much harsher about the current administration. The woman (who they like on the radio and was the reason they wanted to watch) also said some things without actually mentioning names or political parties. My family member then called her a “loud mouth.”

    This is part of the white, Christo-fascist line of thinking. Women are to be subservient, quiet, always agreeable.

    Anon, I realize you’re not on the side of the N&zis, but as a woman, I saw the driver make herself small and soft for him with the last words she’ll ever speak. It didn’t save her.

    He shot her in the head not once, but three times, and called her an effing b*tch.

    This is on him. It’s all on him. If he can’t be out in public without being so easily triggered, he damned sure shouldn’t have a gun. ICE are a bunch of hotheads. We’ve seen it in their behavior on numerous occasions, and the hiring threshold continues to be lowered.

  72. Go put your ass on the line then

    talk is cheap

    the tragedy to me is that she didn’t seem to understand that that’s what she was doing

  73. when the host protested a nice facility, I gave him respect for a reason. I understood what he was walking into.

    Hopefully, he did also.

  74. https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-barbies-hiring-blitz-descends-into-disaster-with-shockingly-bad-recruits/

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s race to add 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents has become a “circus” as sloppy vetting and massive bonuses have attracted a raft of bottom-of-the-barrel recruits—and even some suspected of having gang ties.

    Vetting has allegedly been so rushed that, the Mail reports, recruits were flown to the training base in Glynco, Georgia, before drug-test results came back—only for some to test positive after they were already in training. One trainee reportedly asked to leave class to attend a court date on a gun charge. Others were found to have tattoos linked to gangs and white supremacist groups when they stripped down for workouts.

    The Mail report says the “disaster” has come about because ICE slashed standards to meet President Donald Trump’s 10,000 target, dangling signing and retention bonuses of up to $50,000 that DHS touts on its recruitment site and job postings. Applicants no longer need a college degree and can now be as young as 18, while the Trump administration scrapped the upper age limit entirely in August.

    According to internal figures cited by the outlet, hundreds of brand-new hires with no law-enforcement background have been rushed into the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Brunswick, Georgia, alongside older rehires pushed into desk jobs.

    Discipline problems have followed. The Mail describes one 29-year-old recruit being arrested off-site after allegedly exploding at a FLETC bus driver and smashing his phone. Another man was accused of barging into a women’s dorm after a night at the bar, while a second allegedly groped a female trainee during defensive-tactics class.

    The DHS official told the Mail that, while there were some “fantastic” recruits, the department had been “bringing people in who shouldn’t be hired at all into any federal government job, definitely not one that has a badge and a gun.”

    The official added, “We’re now employing people who are not equipped to tie their own shoelaces. This whole thing is a complete disaster from beginning to end.”

    *Do they do a psych evaluation?

  77. enthusiastically because I knew the stakes

    Apparently, a lot of people still don’t, like, “a lot” a lot

    of people

  80. Don’t think I say something like “go put your ass on the line” flippantly. The whole purpose of a democracy is to preclude you or I from having to make a decision like that.

    And we threw it the fuck away to a fat avaricious moron

    it’s a tragedy

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