Spent the night writing letters and finishing Common Sense. Letters to my 100 yr old grandmother and my mother and my brother.
Just finished reading Thomas Paine's "Common Sense"
He added the "e" to his name. Ha. Thomas Pain. He was a Balzac, a working man who ended up writing something beautiful that moved a nation. He ended up poor when he was ahead of his time. The others, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, were "Deists" that at the time meant you didn't belive the fucking bullshit of religion but said there was a spiritual concept to our existence. It was a get out of jail free card for the gentry. Thomas Paine said there was no god, 200 years before his time and was banished because of it.
And he took the money he made from his biggest hit and fed Washington's army.
He wrote the for "common man" in a language that our current day "common man" couldn't digest for 10 seconds. Our current "common man" needs the bleed of MTV or something that feeds his greed to give a flying fuck. But now, maybe we have a chance.
One quote stood out among many, as a reason for the secession of California even though there is a new dawn on January 20. This is pure Paine, after the Brits massacred between 8 and 100 colonists at Lexington, he wrote about why we needed to get all revolutionary.
"Small islands not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than its primary planet, and as England and America, with respect to each Other, reverses the common order of nature, it is evident they belong to different systems: England to Europe- America to itself."
lol, really, read it again. Or read the whole thing at: www.earlyamerica.com/earlyam...ext.html
complete with Army ads. His pamphlet incited a population of colonists to rebel and to throw themselves against their oppressors to create a more perfect union. They were the original American patriots, fighting from the forest to take down the redcoat trees. History repeats itself. Over and over again. I'm down with our Union now that Barack is president.
We've got a chance for something powerful. I have faith that we, the unspoken generation can that the helm and fix the mistakes of the past. We spent our time, if we even had parents, helping our boomer parents deal. We were the adults when they had no clue, they were diluted by some many of their peers. We were there to help them along. Now it is our turn. I give them a 50/50 result rate and hopefully we won't see another one of them in charge because they're jsut a bunch of fuck ups.
In my letter to my grandmother tonight I wrote:
"I’m also excited that someone of my generation is finally going to run the show. Barack is only 47 and I’m 43. He’s the first Generation X’er to be president. We’re all post the civil rights movement, women’s rights, 60s trouble generation. It looks like Dad’s generation is going to be a draw. The Baby Boomers had their swing at running America. Clinton did a stunning job for 8 years and left us with a surplus, peace and a booming economy. Bush, well, he’s not gone yet, but we can’t wait for him to go away. "
Heh, yea, it is ours to win or lose now.
quick revolutionary war buildup
www.ushistory.org/march/phi...ground.htm
if you click the image you can read more about the revolutionary war (and decide if you're going to join the army)
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