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Part 2 of 2: A special delivery of Paine! In honor of America's 250th birthday, we are celebrating with the forgotten founding father, Thomas Paine. Common Sense is the foundational text of the American Revolution. Changing the perception of early Americans about the cause of fighting against the British Empire from a lack of representation to the cause of America as an asylum for mankind. Where all are welcome and accepted. This is the first half of Paine's "Common Sense."
Creators and Guests
Host
Rosie Tran
Rosie Tran is one of the fastest rising stars in the entertainment business! Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, she moved to Hollywood to pursue her career as a professional entertainer. The stand up comedian, writer, podcast personality, and actress has toured internationally, at comedy clubs, colleges, and overseas for the USO in Europe and the Middle East.
Editor
Andrew
I am the Editor of all things on the Stupid Sexy Privacy Podcast.
What is Stupid Sexy Privacy?
Stupid Sexy Privacy is a miniseries about how to protect yourself from fascists and weirdos. Your host is comedian Rosie Tran, and the show is written by information privacy expert B.J. Mendelson. Every episode is sponsored by our friends at DuckDuckGo. Tune in every Thursday night —or Friday morning if you're nasty — at 12 am EST to catch the next episode.
Speaker 1 (00:01.774)
Back to the DuckDuckGo Privacy Challenge, where contestants get a chance to learn why millions use DuckDuckGo's free browser to search and browse online. Now for our first contestant, Julie. True or false? Google's Chrome protects your personal information from being tracked.
I'm going to say true
Incorrect Julie! If you use Google search or their Chrome browser, your personal information has probably been exposed. Not just your searches, but things like your email, location, and even financial or medical information. Second question. What browser can you switch to for better privacy protection?
Wow, I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (00:43.017)
Is it DuckDuckGo?
That's correct. The DuckDuckGo browser keeps your personal information protected. Say goodbye to hackers, scammers, and the data-hungry companies. Download from DuckDuckGo.com or wherever you get your apps.
Welcome to another edition of Stupid Sexy Privacy, a podcast mini series sponsored by our friends at DuckDuckGo. I'm your host, Rosie Tran. You may have seen me on Rosie Tran Presents, which is now available on Amazon Prime. And I'm your co-producer, Andrew VanVoorst. With us, as always, is Bonzo the Snow Monkey. I'm pretty sure that's not what a Japanese Macau sounds like. it's not. Not even close.
Let's hope there aren't any zoologists listening.
It's fairly simple. A lot of people think they're born better than others. I'm trying to prove it's the way you're raised that counts. But even a monkey brought up in the right surroundings can learn the meaning of decency and honesty.
Speaker 2 (01:43.574)
Okay, I'm also pretty sure that's not what a snow monkey sounds like. Over the course of this mini-series, we're going to offer you short, actionable tips to protect your data, your privacy, and yourself from fascists and weirdos. These tips were sourced by our fearless leader. He really hates when we call him that. DJ Mendelson. Episodes 1 through 33 were written a couple years ago. But since a lot of that advice is still relevant, we thought it would be worth sharing again for those who missed it.
And if you have heard these episodes before, you should know we've gone back and updated a bunch of them, even adding some brand new interviews and privacy tips along the way. That's right. So before we get into today's episode, make sure you visit StupidSexyPrivacy.com and subscribe to our newsletter. This way you can get updates on the show and be the first to know when new episodes are released in 2026. And if you sign up for the newsletter, you'll also get a free PDF and mp3 copy of BJ and Amanda King's new book.
to protect yourself from fascists and weirdos. All you have to do is visit StupidSexyPrivacy.com. StupidSexyPrivacy.com. That's what I just said. StupidSexyPrivacy.com. I know, but repetition is key to success. You know what else is? What? Bonzo, eat your pabling like a good boy and pretty soon you'll grow up to be a big strong handsome man just like your daddy.
then you'll have Swedish pancake too. I'm really glad this show isn't on YouTube because they pull it down like immediately. I know. Google sucks. And on that note, let's get to today's privacy tip.
Speaker 2 (03:27.32)
We hope you enjoyed part one of Thomas Paine's Common Sense. This week we bring you the conclusion, but before we get to it, there are three quotes from the book that we wanna highlight. One, we have it in our power to begin the world over again. Two, when we were planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary. Three, instead of gazing at each other with suspicious or doubtful curiosity, let each of us.
There are a lot of great and important lines written by Thomas Paine in Common Sense, and that's before we get to one of his shorter follow-up works, Agrarian Justice. That's the one where Paine advocated for what is essentially a universal basic income. Something we fully support here at Stupid Sexy Privacy.
All you gotta do is close all the tax loopholes exploited by the wealthy, increase the minimum corporate tax of 50%, just like it was in the 1950s, and raise the marginal tax rate on annual income over $10 million to 90%. If you do that, there's plenty of money for both the universal basic income and Medicare for all. So, in this sense, Payne was a visionary. But his vision got him into trouble. You'll notice in common sense that Thomas Payne wasn't a fan of organized religion.
His follow-up book to Common Sense called The Age of Reason infuriated conservatives and the church. So much so that they worked to bury the memory of Thomas Paine, a campaign that went on into the 20th century. Before conservatives rediscovered Paine and began to misinterpret his work to their own benefit. If you'd like to learn more, we really enjoyed Harvey J. K.' Thomas Paine and the Promise of America. K. expertly details Paine's biography, as well as the cultural impact of his work.
Now, about those three quotes we shared. The third one was a call for unity during a revolution. We're not psychics, but you might want to listen closely to that quote again, because from hundreds of years in the past, Payne is giving us advice as to what we need to do right now, in this moment. Instead of gazing at each other with suspicious or doubtful curiosity, let each of us hold out to his neighbor the hearty hand of friendship and unite in drawing a line.
Speaker 2 (05:49.632)
which, like an act of oblivion, shall bury in forgetfulness every former dissension." The second quote is important because it explains why our country is in the state that it is. The founding fathers believed in virtue. Most of them, anyway. Pain did not. And basically, idea is America would continue to function as expected because the next generation would take virtue, or ethics, and good behavior seriously. That's not what happened.
And Paine anticipated this when he reminded us, when we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary. So it's up to us right now in this moment to dedicate ourselves to acting more ethically and calling out fascist behavior whenever we see it. Because what we're seeing right now is not normal. America in 2026 is not at all what Thomas Paine envisioned back in 1776. That brings us to the last quote we want to highlight.
We have it in our power to begin the world over again. Pain is reminding us that right now, in this moment, hundreds of years after Common Sense was published, that we can fix things. We don't have to just accept the world as it's been given to us by the millionaires and billionaires. We can tax them. We can enforce the laws we have on the books. We can build a world where capitalism can do its thing, all while making sure that nobody is harmed by its often toxic side effects. Meaning, for example,
that your health insurance isn't dependent on having and keeping a job, especially when the economic incentives are to employ as few people as possible for the most profit, meaning your job security is always iffy at best. So enjoy common sense, and we'll be back soon with season two of Stupid Sexy Privacy. Until then, remember that our ability to remake the world and that we can be the generation that fulfills Payne's promise of making America an asylum for all mankind.
Speaker 1 (07:54.441)
COMMON SENSE CHAPTER III. THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS. PART II. As Britain hath not manifest the least inclination towards a compromise, we may be assured that no terms can be obtained worthy of the acceptance of the Continent.
or any ways equal to the expense of blood and treasure we have been already put to. The object contended for ought always to bear some just proportion to the expense. The removal of North, or the whole detestable Gintu, is a matter unworthy the millions we have expended. A temporary stoppage of trade was an inconvenience, which would have sufficiently balanced the repeal of all the acts complained of, had such repeals been obtained. But if the whole continent must take up arms, if every man must be a soldier,
It is scarcely worth our while to fight against a contemptible ministry only. Dearly, dearly do we pay for the repeal of the Acts, if that is all we fight for. For in a just estimation it is as great a folly to pay a bunker-hill price for law as for land. As I have always considered the independency of the continent as an event which sooner or later must arrive, so from the late rapid progress of the continent to maturity, the event could not be far off.
Wherefore, on the breaking out of hostilities, it was not worth the while to have disputed a matter which time would have finally redressed unless we meant it to be in earnest. Otherwise, it is like wasting an estate on a suit at law to regulate the trespass of a tenant whose lease is just expiring. No man was a warmer wish-er for reconciliation than myself before the fatal 19th of April, 1775. But the moment the event of that day was made known,
I rejected the hardened, sullen, tempered Pharaoh of England forever, and disdained the wretch that with the pretended title of father of his people can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter and compositely sleep with their blood on his soul. But admitting that matters were now made up, what would be the event? I answer, the ruin of the continent, and that for several reasons. First, the powers of governing still remaining in the hands of the king, he will have a negative over the whole legislation of this continent.
Speaker 1 (10:07.116)
And as he hath shown himself such an inveterate enemy to liberty, and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power, is he, or is he not, a proper man to say to these colonies, You shall make no laws but what I please? And is there any inhabitant in America so ignorant as not to know that according to what is called the present Constitution, that this continent can make no laws but what the King gives it leave to? And is there any man so unwise as not to see that, considering what has happened
He will suffer no law to be made here, but such as suits his purpose. He may be as ineffectually enslaved by the want of laws in America, as by submitting to laws made for us in England. After matters are made up, as it is called, can there be any doubt? But the whole power of the Crown will be exerted to keep this continent as low and humble as possible. Instead of going forward, we shall go backward, or be perpetually quarreling, or ridiculously petitioning. We are always greater than the King wishes us to be.
and will he not thereafter endeavor to make us less? To bring the matter to one point is the power, who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us. Whoever says no to this question is an independent, for independency means no more than whether we shall make our own laws or whether the king, the greatest enemy this continent hath or can have, shall tell us there shall be no laws but such as I like. But the king you will say,
as a negative in England. The people there can make no laws without his consent. In point of right and good order, there is something very ridiculous that a youth of twenty-one, which hath often happened, shall say to several millions of people, older and wiser than himself, I forbid this or that act of yours to be law. But in this place I decline this sort of reply, though I will never cease to expose the absurdities of it, and only answer that England being the king's residence and America not so, make quite another case. The king's negative here
is ten times more dangerous and fatal than it can be in England. For there, he will scarcely refuse his consent to a bill for putting England into as strong a state of defense as possible. And in America, he would never suffer such a bill to be passed. America is only a secondary object in the system of British politics. England consults the good of this country no farther than it answers her own purpose. Wherefore, her own interest leads her to suppress the growth of ours in every case which doth not promote her advantage.
Speaker 1 (12:34.646)
or in the least interferes with it. A pretty state we should soon be in under such a second-hand government, considering what has happened. Men do not change from enemies to friends by the alteration of a name, and in order to show that reconciliation now is a dangerous doctrine, I affirm that it would be policy in the King at this time to repeal the Acts for the sake of reinstating himself in the government of the provinces, in order that he may accomplish by craft and subtlety, in the long run, what he cannot do by force and violence in the short one.
Reconciliation and ruin are nearly related. Secondly, that as ever the best terms which we can expect to obtain can amount to no more than a temporary expedient or a kind of government by guardianship which can last no longer than till the colonies come of age so the general face and state of things in the interim will be unsettled and unpromising. Immigrants of property will not choose to come to a country whose form of government hangs but by a thread and who is every day
tottering on the brink of commotion and disturbance, and numbers of the present inhabitants would lay hold of the interval to dispose of their effects and quit the continent. But the most powerful of all arguments is that nothing but independence, in other words, a continental form of government, can keep the peace of the continent and preserve it in violence from civil wars. I dread the event of a reconciliation with Britain now, as it is more than probable that it will be followed by a revolt somewhere or other.
the consequences of which may be far more fatal than all the malice of Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity. Thousands more will probably suffer the same fate. Those men have other feelings than us who have nothing suffered. All they now possess is liberty. What they therefore enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and having nothing more to lose, they disdain submission. Besides, the general temper of the colonies toward a British government will be like that of a youth who is nearly out of his time.
They will care very little about her, and a government which cannot preserve the peace is no government at all. And in that case, we pay our money for nothing and pray, what is it that Britain can do whose power will be wholly on paper should a civil turmoil break out the very day after reconciliation? I have heard some men say, many of whom I believe spoke without thinking, that they dreaded an independence fearing that it would produce civil wars. It is but seldom that our first thoughts are truly correct.
Speaker 1 (14:59.404)
And that is the case here, for there are ten times more to dread from a patched-up connection than from independence. I make the sufferers' case my own, and I protest, that were I driven from house and home, my property destroyed and my circumstances ruined, that as a man sensible of injuries, I could never relish the doctrine of reconciliation or consider myself bound thereby. The colonies have manifested such a spirit of good order and obedience to Continental Government.
as is sufficient to make every reasonable person easy and happy on that head. No man can assign least pretense for his fears on any other ground that such are truly childish and ridiculous, these that one colony will be striving for superiority over another. Where there are no distinctions, there can be no superiority. Perfect equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe are, and we may say always, in peace. Holland and Switzerland are without wars, foreign or domestic.
All.
Speaker 1 (15:56.962)
Monarchal governments, it is true, are never long at rest. The Crown itself is a temptation to enterprising ruffians at home. And that degree of pride and insolence ever attendant on regal authority swells into a rupture with foreign powers, in instances where a Republican government, by being formed on more natural principles, would negotiate the mistake. If there is any true cause of fear respecting independence, it is because no plan has yet been laid down. Men do not see their way out. Wherefore,
As an opening into that business, I offer the following hints. At the same time, modestly affirming that I have no other opinion of them myself than that they may be means of giving rise to something better. Could the straggling thoughts of individuals be collected? They would frequently form materials for wise and able men to improve into useful matter. Let the assemblies be annual with the president only, the representation more equal, their business wholly domestic and subject to the authority of a Continental Congress.
Let each colony be divided into six, eight, or ten convenient districts, each district to send a proper number of delegates to Congress so that each colony sent at least 30. The whole number in Congress will be leased 390. Each Congress to sit and to choose a president by the following method. When the delegates are met, let a colony be taken from the whole 13 colonies by lot. After which, let the whole Congress choose by ballot a president from out of the delegates of that province. In the next Congress, let a colony be taken by lot from 12 only.
omitting that colony from which the president was taken in the former Congress, and so proceeding on until the whole thirteen shall have had their proper rotation, in order that nothing may pass into the law but what is satisfactorily just, not less than three-fifths of the Congress, to be called a majority. He that will promote discord under a government so equally formed as this would have joined Lucifer in his revolt. But as there is a peculiar delicacy from whom or in what manner
This business must first arise, and as it seems most agreeable and consistent, that it should come from some intermediate body between the governed and the governors, that is, between the Congress and the people, let a Continental Conference be held in the following manner and for the following purpose. A committee of 26 members of Congress, vies two from each colony, two members for each House of Assembly or Provincial Convention, and five representatives of the people at large to be chosen at the capital city or town of each province for and in behalf of the whole province.
Speaker 1 (18:24.802)
by as many qualified voters as shall think proper to attend from all parts of the province for that purpose. Or, if more convenient, the representatives may be chosen in two or three of the most populous parts thereof. In this conference, thus assembled, will be united the two grand principles of business, knowledge and power. The members of Congress, assemblies, or conventions, by having had experience in national concerns, will be able and useful counselors, and the whole being empowered by the people will have a truly
legal authority. The conferring members being met let their business be to frame a Continental Charter or a Charter of the United Colonies answering to what is called the Magna Carta of England. Fixing the number and manner of choosing members of Congress, members of Assembly, with their dates of sitting and drawing a line of business and jurisdiction between them, always remembering that our strength is Continental, not Provincial. Securing freedom and property to all men and above all things the free exercise of religion.
according to the dictates of conscience, which such other matter as is necessary for a charter to contain. Immediately after which the said conference to dissolve, and the bodies which shall be chosen, conformable to the said charter, to be legislators and governors of this continent, for the time being, whose peace and happiness may God preserve. Amen. Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this or some similar purpose, I offer them the following extracts.
from that wise observer on governments, Dragonetti. The science, says he, of the politician, consists in fixing the true point of happiness and freedom. Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages who should discover a mode of government that contained the greatest sum of individual happiness and the least national expense. Dragonetti on virtue and rewards. But where, says some, is the King of America? I'll tell you, friend, he reigns above and doth not make havoc of mankind
like the royal brute of Britain, yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter. Let it be brought forth, placed on the divine law, the word of God, let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know that, so far as we approve as monarchy, that in America the law is king. For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king, and there ought to be no other.
Speaker 1 (20:49.656)
But least any ill use should afterward arise, let the crown at this conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it is. A government of our own is our natural right, and when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become convinced that it is infinitely wiser and safer to form a constitution of our own, in a cool, deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance. If we omit it now, some, Mazzanello,
may hereafter arise, who lay hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the desperate and contented, and by assuming to themselves the powers of government, may sweep away the liberties of the continent, like Deluge. Should the government of America return again into the hands of Britain, a tottering situation of things will be a temptation for some desperate adventurer to try his fortune. And in such a case, what relief can Britain give? Ere she could hear the news, the fatal business might be done.
and ourselves suffering like the wretched Britons under the oppression of the conqueror, ye that oppose independence now, ye know not what ye do, ye are opening a door to eternal tyranny by keeping vacant the seat of government. There are thousands and tens of thousands who would think it glorious to expel from the continent that barbarous and hellish power which hath stirred up the Indians and Negroes to destroy us, and cruelly hath a double guilt. It is dealing brutally by us and treacherously
by them. To talk of friendship with those in whom our reason forbids us to have faith and our affections wounded through a thousand pores instructs us to detest is madness and folly. Every day wears out the little remains of kindred between us and them. And can there be any reason to hope that as the relationship expires the affection will increase or that we shall agree better when we have ten times more and greater concerns to quarrel over than ever? Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can you restore us to the time that is past?
Can ye give to prostitution its former innocence? Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last cord now is broken. The people of England are presenting addresses against us. There are injuries which nature cannot forgive. She would cease to be nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive the ravisher of his mistress, as the continent forgive the murderers of Britain. The Almighty hath implanted in us these unextinguishable feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the guardians of his image in our hearts. They distinguish us
Speaker 1 (23:17.592)
from the herd of common animals, the social compact would dissolve and justice be extirpated from the earth, or have only a casual existence where we callous to the touches of affection. The robber and the murderer would often escape unpunished did not the injuries which our tempters sustain provoke us into justice. O ye that love mankind, ye that dare oppose not only the tyranny but the tyrant, stand forth. Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression.
Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia and Africa have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O, receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind. End of part two of chapter three. End of chapter three.
Speaker 4 (24:08.152)
Hey everyone, this is Amanda King, one of the co-hosts of Stupid Sexy Privacy. These days I spend most of my time talking to businesses and clients about search engine optimization, but...
That's not what this is about. I wanted to tell you a little bit about a book I've co-authored with BJ Mendelsohn called How to Protect Yourself from Fascists and Weirdos. And the title tells you pretty much everything you would want to know about what's in the book. And thanks to our friends at DuckDuckGo, we'll actually be able to give you this book for free in 2026. All you need to do is go to the website stupidsexyprivacy.com and sign up to our newsletter. Again, that website is
stupidsexyprivacy.com and then put your name in the box and sign up for a newsletter. We'll let you know when the book and the audiobook is ready because if you want a PDF copy that's DRM free, it's yours and if you want an mp3 of the new audiobook also DRM free, you can get that too. Now I gotta get out of here before Bonzo corners me because he doesn't think that SEO is real and I don't have the
patience to argue with him because I got a book to finish.
COMMON SENSE, CHAPTER IV. the Present Ability of America, with some miscellaneous reflections. I have never met with a man, either in England or America, who have not confessed his opinion, that a separation between the countries would take place one time or other.
Speaker 1 (25:55.052)
and there is no instance in which we have shown less judgment than in endeavoring to describe what we call the ripeness or fitness of the continent for independence. As all men allow the measure, and vary only in their opinion of the time, let us, in order to remove mistakes, take a general survey of things, and endeavor, if possible, to find out the very time. But we need not go far, the inquiry ceases at once. For the time hath found us. The general concurrence
the glorious union of all things, prove the fact. It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies. Yet our present numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the world. The continent hath, at this time, the largest body of armed and disciplined men of any power under heaven, and is just arrived at the pitch of strength, in which no single colony is able to support itself, and the whole, when united, can accomplish the matter, and either more or less than this, might be fatal in its effects.
Our land force is already sufficient, and as to naval affairs, we cannot be insensible that Britain could never suffer an American man of war to be built while the continent remained in her hands. Wherefore, we should be no forwarder and hundred years hence in that branch than we are now, but the truth is we should be less so, because the timber of the country is every day diminishing, and that which will remain at least will be far off and difficult to procure. Where the continent crowded with inhabitants, her sufferings under the present circumstances
would be intolerable. The more seaport towns we had, the more should we have both to defend and to lose. Our present numbers are so happily proportioned to our wants that no man need be idle. The diminution of trade affords an army, and the necessities of an army create a new trade. Debts we have none, and whatever we may contract on this account will serve as a glorious memento to our virtue. Can we but leave posterity with a settled form of government, an independent constitution of its own, that purchase at any price will be cheap?
But to expend millions for the sake of getting a few vile acts repealed and routing the present military only is unworthy the charge, and is using posterity with the utmost cruelty, because it is leaving them the great work to do and a debt upon their backs from which they derive no advantage. Such a thought is unworthy a man of honor, and is the true characteristic of a narrow heart and a peddling politician. The debt we may contract doth not deserve our regard if the work be but accomplished.
Speaker 1 (28:22.198)
No nation ought to be without a debt. A national debt is a national bond, and when it bears no interest, is in no case a grievance. Britain is oppressed with a debt of upwards of $140 million sterling, for which she pays upwards of $4 million interest. And as a compensation for her debt, she has a large Navy. America is without a debt, and without a Navy. Yet for the 20th part of the English national debt, could have a Navy as large again. The Navy of England is not worth, at this time, more than $3.5 million.
sterling. The first and second editions of this pamphlet were published without the following calculations, which are now given as a proof that the above estimation of the Navy is a just one. From Etix Naval History, Introduction. The charge of building a ship of each rate and furnishing her with masts, yards, nails, and rigging, together with the proportion of eight months' bosons and carpenters' sea stores, as calculated by Mr. Burchett, Secretary to the Navy. For a ship of 100 guns,
35,553 pounds. 90 guns, 29,886 pounds. 80 guns, 23,638 pounds. 70 guns, 17,785 pounds. 60 guns, 14,197 pounds. 50 guns, 10,606 pounds. 40 guns, 7,558 pounds. 30 guns, 5,846 pounds. 20 guns, 3,710 pounds.
And from hence it is easy to sum up the value, or cost rather, of the whole British Navy, which in the year 1757, when it was at its greatest glory, consisted of the following ships and guns. Six ships, 100 guns, 35,553 pounds for one, 213,318 pounds for all. Ships, 12, gun, cost of one, 29,886, cost of all, 358,632. Ships,
Speaker 1 (30:19.79)
12, guns 80, cost of 1, 23,638, cost of all, 283,656. Ships 43, guns 70, cost of 1, 17,785, cost of all, 746,755. Ships 35, guns 60, cost of 1, 14,197, cost of all, 496,895. Ships 40, guns 50, cost of 1, 10,606, cost of all,
424,240. Ships, 45. Guns, 40. Cost of one, 7,558. Cost of all, 340,110. Ships, 58. Guns, 20. Cost of one, 3,710 pounds. Cost of all, 215,180 pounds. Ships, 85. Sleuths, bombs, and fire ships, one with another at 2,000 pounds each, 170,000 pounds. Cost.
Speaker 1 (31:20.15)
3,266,786 pounds, remains for guns 233,214 pounds, total 3,500,000 pounds sterling. No country on the globe is so happily situated, so internally capable of raising a fleet as America. Tar, timber, iron, and cordage are her natural produce. We need to go abroad for nothing. Whereas the Dutch, who make large profits by hiring out their ships of war to the Spaniards and Portuguese, are obliged to import most of the materials they use.
We ought to view the building of a fleet as an article of commerce, it being the natural manufacturing of this country. It is the best money we can lay out. A Navy wind furnished is worth more than it costs and is that nice point in national policy in which commerce and protection are united. Let us build if we want them not. We can sell and by that means replace our paper currency with ready gold and silver. In point of manning a fleet, people in general run into great errors. It is not necessary that one fourth part should be sailor. The terrible privateer
Captain Death stood the hottest engagement of any ship last war, yet had not 20 sailors on board, though her complement of men was upwards of 200. A few able and social sailors will soon instruct a sufficient number of active landsmen in the common work of a ship. Wherefore, we never can be more capable to begin our maritime matters than now, while our timber is standing, our fisheries blocked up, and our sailors and shipwrights out of employ. Men of war of 70 and 80 guns were built 40 years ago in New England. And why not the same now?
shipbuilding is America's greatest pride, and in which she will in time excel the whole world. The great empires of the East are mostly inland, and consequently excluded from the possibility of rivaling her. Africa is in a state of barbarism, and no power in Europe hath either such an extent of coast or such an internal supply of materials. Where nature hath given the one, she hath withheld the other. To America only hath she been liberal of both. The vast empire of Russia is almost shut out from the sea.
wherefore her boundless forests, her tar, iron, and cordage, are only articles of commerce. In point of safety ought we be without a fleet. We are not the little people now, which we were sixty years ago. At that time, we might have trusted our property in the streets, or fields rather, and slept securely without locks or bolts on our doors or windows. The case now is altered, and our methods of defense ought to improve with our increase of prosperity. A common pirate, twelve months ago, might have come up the Delaware and laid the city of Philadelphia under instant contribution.
Speaker 1 (33:43.576)
for what sums he pleased. And the same might have happened to other places. Nay, any darling fellow in a brig of fourteen or sixteen guns might have robbed the whole continent and carried off half a million of money. These are circumstances which demand our attention and point out the necessity of naval protection. Some people will say that after we have made it up with Britain, she will protect us. Can we be so unwise as to mean that she shall keep a navy in our harbors for that purpose? Common sense will tell us.
that the power which hath endeavoured to subdue us is of all others the most improper to defend us. Conquest may be affected under the pretense of friendship, and ourselves, after a long and brave resistance, be at last cheated into slavery. And if her ships are not to be admitted into our harbors, I would ask, how is she to protect us? A navy three or four thousand miles off can be of little use, and on sudden emergencies none at all. Wherefore, if we must hereafter protect ourselves, why not do it for ourselves?
Why do it for another? The English list of ships of war is long and formidable, but not a tenth part of them are in any time fit for service, numbers of them not in being, yet their names are pompously continued in the list. If only a plank be left of the ship, and not a fifth part, of such as are fit for service, can be spared on any one station at any one time. The East and West Indies, Mediterranean, Africa, and other parts over which Britain extends her claim, make large demands upon her navy.
From a mixture of prejudice and inattention, we have contracted a false notion respecting the Navy of England, and have talked as if we should have the whole of it to encounter at once, and for that reason supposed that we must have one as large, which, not being instantly practicable, have been made use of by a set of distinguished Tories to discourage our beginning thereon. Nothing can be farther from the truth than this, for if America had only a twentieth part of the naval force of Britain, she would be by far an overmatch for her, because, as we neither have nor claim,
any foreign dominion, our whole force could be employed on our own coast, where we should, in the long run, have 2 to 1 the advantage of those who had 3 or 4,000 miles to sail over, before they could attack us, and the same distance to return in order to refit and recruit. And although Britain, by her fleet, hath a check over our trade to Europe, we have as large a one over her trade to the West Indies, which, by laying in the neighborhood of the continent, is entirely at its mercy. Some method might be fallen on to keep up
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a naval force in time of peace, if we should not judge it necessary to support a constant navy. If premiums are to be given to merchants to build and employ in their service, ships mounted with 20, 30, 40, or 50 guns, the premiums to be in proportion to the loss of bulk to the merchants, 50 or 60 of those ships, with a few guard ships on constant duty, would keep up a sufficient navy. And that, without burdening ourselves with the evil so loudly complained of in England, of suffering their fleet in time of peace to lie rotting in the docks, to unite the seawings of commerce and defense is sound policy.
For when our strength and our riches play into each other's hand, we need fear no external enemy. In almost every article of defense we abound. Hemp flourishes even to rankness, so that we need not want cordage. Our iron is superior to that of other countries. Our small arms equal to any in the world. Cannons we can cast at pleasure. Saltpeter and gunpowder we are every day producing. Our knowledge is hourly improving. Resolution is our inherent character, and courage hath never yet forsaken us. Wherefore, what is it that we want?
Why is it that we hesitate? From Britain we can expect nothing but ruin. If she is once admitted to the government of America again, this continent will not be worth living in. Jealousies will be always arising. Insurrections will be constantly happening. And who will go forth to quell them? Who will venture his life to reduce his own countrymen to a foreign obedience? The difference between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, respecting some unlocated lands, shows the insignificance of a British government and fully proves that nothing but continental authority can regulate continental matters.
Another reason why the present time is preferable to all others is that the fewer our numbers are, the more land there is yet unoccupied, which instead of being lavished by the king on his worthless dependence, may be hereafter applied not only to the discharge of the present debt, but to the constant support of government. No nation under heaven hath such an advantage as this. The infant state of the colonies, as it is called, so far from being against, is an argument in favor of independence. We are sufficiently numerous, and were we more so, we might be less united.
It is a matter worthy of observation that the more a country is peopled, the smaller their armies are. In military numbers, the ancients far exceeded the moderns, and the reason is evident, for trade being the consequence of population, men become too much absorbed thereby to attend to anything else. Commerce diminishes the spirit, both of patriotism and military defense, and history sufficiently informs us that the bravest achievements are always accomplished in the non-age of a nation. With the increase of commerce, England has lost its spirit.
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The city of London, notwithstanding its numbers, submits to continued insults with the patience of a coward. The more men have to lose, the less willing are they to venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear and submit to courtly power with the trembling duplicity of a spaniel. Youth is the seed time of good habits, as well in nations as in individuals. It might be difficult, if not impossible, to form the continent into one government half a century hence. The vast variety of interests, occasioned by an increase of trade and population, would create confusion.
Colony would be against colony. Each being able might scorn each other's assistance, and while the proud and foolish gloried in their little distinctions, the wise would lament that the union had not been formed before. Wherefore, the present time is the true time for establishing it. The intimacy which is contracted in infancy, and the friendship which is formed in misfortune, are, of all others, the most lasting and unalterable. Our present union is marked with both these characters. We are young, and we have been distressed. But our concord hath withstood our troubles.
and fixes a memorable area for posterity to glory in. The present time likewise is that particular time which never happens to a nation but once, the time of forming itself into a government. Most nations have let slip the opportunity and by that means have been compelled to receive laws from their conquerors instead of making laws for themselves. First they had a king and then a form of government, whereas the articles or charter of government should be formed first and men delegated to execute them afterwards. But from the errors of other nations
Let us learn wisdom and lay hold to the present opportunity to begin government at the right end. When William the Conqueror subdued England, he gave them law at the point of the sword, and until we consent that the seat of government in America be legally and authoritatively occupied, we shall be in danger of having it filled by some fortunate ruffian who may treat us in the same manner, and then where will be our freedom, where our property? As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of all government to protect all conscientious professors thereof.
and I know of no other business which government ath to do therewith. Let a man throw aside that narrowness of soul, that selfishness of principle, which the niggers of all professions are so unwilling to part with, and he will be at once delivered of his fears on that head. Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society. For myself, I fully and conscientiously believe that it is the will of the Almighty that there should be diversity of religious opinions among us.
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it affords a large field for our Christian kindness. All of one way of thinking, our religious dispositions would want matter for probation. And on this liberal principle, I look on the various denominations among us to be like children of the same family, differing only in what is called their Christian names. I threw out a few thoughts on the property of a Continental Charter, for I only presume to offer hints, not plans. And in this place, I take the liberty of re-mentioning the subject by observing
where we are.
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that a charter is to be understood as a bond of solemn obligation, which the whole enters into, to support the right of every separate part, whether religion, personal freedom, or property. A firm bargain and a right reckoning make long friends. In a former page, I likewise mentioned the necessity of a large and equal representation, and there is no political matter which more deserves our attention. A small number of electors, or a small number of representatives, are equally dangerous, but if the number of the representatives
be not only small but unequal, the danger is increased. As an instance of this, I mention the following. When the Associators petitioned as before the House of Assembly of Pennsylvania, 28 members only were present. All the Bucks County members, being eight, voted against it. And had seven of the Chester members done the same, this whole province had been governed by two counties only, and this danger it is always exposed to. The unwarrantable stretch, likewise, which that House made in their last sitting,
to gain an undue authority over the delegates of that province ought to warn the people at large how they trust power out of their own hands. A set of instructions for the delegates were put together which in point of sense and business would have dishonored a schoolboy, and after being approved by a few, with outdoors, were carried into the house and their past in behalf of the whole colony. Whereas did the whole colony know, with what ill will that house hath entered on some necessary public measures, they would not hesitate a moment.
of very few.
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to think them unworthy of such a trust. Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which, if continued, would grow into oppressions. Expedience and right are different things. When the calamities of America required a consultation, there was no method so ready, or at that time so proper, as to appoint persons from the several houses of assembly for that purpose. And the wisdom with which they have proceeded hath preserved this continent from ruin. But as it is more than probable that we shall never be without a Congress, every well-wisher
good order, must own that the mode for choosing members of that body deserves consideration. And I put it as a question to those who make a study of mankind, whether representation and election is not too great a power for one and the same body of men to possess. When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary. It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and are frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes. Mr. Cornwall, one of the lords of the Treasury,
treated the petition of New York Assembly with contempt, because that House, he said, consisted but of twenty-six members. Such trifling number, he argued, could not, with decency, be put for the whole. We thanked him for his involuntary honesty. To conclude, however strange it may appear to some, or however unwilling they may be to think so, matters not. But many strong and striking reasons may be given, to show that nothing can settle our affairs so expeditiously as an open and determined Declaration for Independence, some of which are
First, it is the custom of nations, when any two are at war, for some other power not engaged in the quarrel, to step in as mediators and to bring about the preliminaries of a peace. But while America herself is the subject of Great Britain, no power, however well-disposed she may be, can offer her mediation. Wherefore, in our present state, we may quarrel on forever. Secondly, it is unreasonable to suppose that France or Spain will give us any kind of assistance, if we mean only to make use of that assistance for the purpose of repairing the breach.
calls per
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and strengthening the connection between Britain and America, because those powers would be sufferers by the consequences. Thirdly, while we profess ourselves the subjects of Britain, we must in the eye of foreign nations be considered as rebels. The precedent is somewhat dangerous to their race. For men to be in arms under the name of subjects, we, on the spot, can solve the paradox, but to unite resistance and subjugation requires an idea much too refined for the common understanding.
were a manifesto to be published and dispatched to foreign courts, setting forth the miseries we have endured and the peaceable methods we have ineffectually used for redress, declaring at the same time that not being able any longer to live happily or safely under the cruel disposition of the British court, we had been driven to the necessity of breaking off all connections with her, at the same time assuring all such courts of our peaceable disposition towards them and of our desire of entering into trade with them. Such a memorial
would produce more good effects to this continent than if a ship were freighted with petitions to Britain. Under our present denomination of British subjects, we can neither be received nor heard abroad. The custom of all courts is against us, and will be so until, by an independence, we take rank with other nations. These proceedings may at first appear strange and difficult, but like all other steps which we have already passed over, will in a little time become familiar and agreeable, and until an independence is declared,
The continent will feel itself like a man who continues putting off some unpleasant business from day to day, yet knows it must be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over, and is continually haunted with the thoughts of his necessities. Note 1. Those who would fully understand of what great consequence a large and equal representation is to a State should read Berg's Political Disquintations. End of chapter 4.
All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Common Sense by Thomas Paine Appendix Since the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet, or rather, on the same day on which it came out, the King's Speech made its appearance in this city. Had the spirit of prophecy directed the birth of this production, it could not have brought it forth at a more seasonable juncture, or a more necessary time. The bloody-mindedness of the one
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show the necessity of pursuing the doctrine of the other. Men read by way of revenge, and the speech instead of terrifying, prepared a way for the manly principles of independence. Ceremony and even silence from whatever motive they may arise have a hurtful tendency when they give the least degree of continence to base and wicked performances. Wherefore, if this maximum be admitted, it naturally follows that the King's speech, as being a piece of finished villainy, deserved and still deserves,
a general execration both by the Congress and the people. Yet, as the domestic tranquility of a nation depends greatly on the chastity of what may properly be called national manners, it is often better to pass some things over in silent disdain than to make use of such new methods of dislike as might introduce the least innovation on that guardian of our peace and safety. And perhaps it is chiefly owing to this prudent delicacy that the King's speech hath not, before now, suffered a public execution.
The speech, if it may be called one, is nothing better than a willful, audacious libel against the truth, the common good, and the existence of mankind, and is a formal and pompous method of offering up human sacrifices to the pride of tyrants. But this general massacre of mankind is one of the privileges and the certain consequences of kings. For as nature knows them not, they know not her, and although they are beings of our own creation, they know not us, and are become the gods of their creators."
The speech hath one good quality, which is that it is not calculated to deceive. Neither can we, even if we would, be deceived by it. Brutality and tyranny appear on the face of it. It leaves us at no loss. And every line convinces, even in the moment of reading, that he who hunts the woods for prey, the naked and untutored Indian, is less a savage than the King of Britain. Sir John Dollywimple, the punitive father and whining Jesuitical peace, felicitously called the address of the people of England to the inhabitants of America, hath
Perhaps.
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from a vain supposition that the people here were to be frightened at the pomp and description of a king given, though very unwisely on his part, the real character of the present one. But, says this writer, if you are inclined to pay compliments to an administration which we do not complain of, meaning the marquee of rocking hands at the repeal of the Stamp Act, it is very unfair in which to withhold them from that prince. If those who nod alone, they were permitted to do anything. This is Toryism with a witness.
Here is idolatry even without a mask. And he who can so calmly hear and digest such doctrine hath forfeited his claim to rationality, and apostate from the order of manhood, and ought to be considered as one who hath not only given up the proper dignity of a man, but sunk himself beneath the rank of animals, and contemptuously crawls through the world like a worm. However, it matters very little now what the King of England either says or does. He hath wickedly broken through every moral and human obligation, trampled nature and conscience beneath his feet.
and by a steady and constitutional spirit of insolence and cruelty, procured for himself a universal hatred. It is now the interest of America to provide for herself. She hath already a large and young family, whom it is more her duty to take care of than to be granting away her property to support a power who has become a reproach to the names of men and Christians. Ye whose office it is to watch over the morals of a nation, of whatsoever sect or denomination ye are of, as well as ye who are more immediately the guardians of the public liberty.
If ye wish to preserve your native country uncontaminated by European corruption, ye must in secret wish a separation. But, leaving the moral part to private reflection, I shall chiefly confine my further remarks to the following heads. First, that it is the interest of America to be separated from Britain. Secondly, which is the easiest and most practicable plan, reconciliation or independence, with some occasional remarks. In support of the first, I could, if I judged it proper,
produced the opinion of some of the ablest and most experienced men on this continent, whose sentiments on that head are not yet publicly known. It is in reality a self-evident position, for no nation in a state of foreign dependence, limited in its commerce and cramped and fettered in its legislative powers, can ever arrive at any material eminence. America doth not yet know what opulence is, and although the progress which she hath made stands unparalleled in the history of other nations, it is but childhood compared
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with what she would be capable of arriving at had she, as she ought to have, the legislative powers in her own hands. England is, at this time, proudly coveting what would do her no good were she to accomplish it, and the continent hesitating on a matter which will be her final ruin if neglected. It is the commerce and not the conquest of America by which England is to be benefited. And that would, in a great measure, continue where the countries as independent of each other as France and Spain, because in many articles neither can go to a better market.
But it is the independence of this country, of Britain or any other, which is now the main and only object worthy of contention, and which, like all other truths discovered by necessity, will appear clearer and stronger every day. First, because it will come to that one time or other. Secondly, because the longer it is delayed, the harder it will be to accomplish. I have frequently amused myself both in public and private companies with silently remarking the specious errors of those who speak without reflecting. And among the many which I have heard,
the following seems most general. These, that had this rupture happened forty or fifty years hence, instead of now, the continent would have been more able to have shaken off the dependence. To which I reply, that our military ability at this time arises from the experience gained in the last war, and which in forty or fifty years' time would have been totally extinct. The continent would not, by that time, have had a general, or even a military officer left. And we, or those who may succeed us, would have been as ignorant of martial matters as the ancient Indians. And this single
position closely attended to will unanswerably prove that the present time is preferable to all others. The argument turns thus. At the conclusion of the last war we had experience, but wanted numbers, and forty or fifty years hence we should have numbers without experience. Wherefore, the proper point of time must be some particular point between the two extremes, in which a sufficiency of the former remains and a proper increase of the latter is obtained. And that point of time is the present time. The reader will pardon this digression
as it does not properly come under the head I first set out with, and to which I again return by the following position. These. Should affairs be patched up with Britain, and she to remain the governing and sovereign power of America, which as matters are now circumstanced, is giving up the point entirely, we shall deprive ourselves of the very means of sinking the debt we have, or may contract the value of the backlands which some of the provinces are clandestinely deprived of by the unjust extension of the limits of Canada, valued only at five pounds sterling per hundred acres.
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amount to upwards of twenty-five millions, Pennsylvania currency, and the quit rents at one penny sterling per acre to two millions yearly. It is by the sale of those lands that the debt may be sunk, without burden to any, and the quit rent reserved thereof will always lessen, and in time will wholly support the yearly expense of the government. It matters not how long the debt is in paying, so that the lands when sold be applied to the discharge of it, and for the extinction of which the Congress for the time being will be continental.
trustees. I proceed now to second head, these, which is the easiest and most practicable plan, reconciliation or independence, with some occasional remarks. He who takes nature for his guide is not easily beaten out of his argument, and on that ground I answer, generally, that independence being a single, simple line contained within ourselves and reconciliation a matter exceedingly perplexed and complicated, and in which a treacherous, capricious court is to interfere, gives the answer without a doubt.
The present state of America is truly alarming to every man who is capable of reflection, without law, without government, without any other mode of power than what is found on and granted by courtesy, held together by an unexampled concurrence of sentiment, which is nevertheless subject to change, and which every secret enemy is endeavoring to dissolve. Our present condition is legislation without law, wisdom without a plan, constitution without a name, and what is strangely astonishing, perfect independence contending for dependence.
The instance is without precedent. The case never existed before, and who can tell what may be the event? The property of no man is secure in the present, unbraced system of things. The mind of the multitude is left at random, and seeing no fixed object before them, they pursue such as fancy or opinion starts. Nothing is criminal. There is no such thing as treason. Wherefore, everyone thinks himself at liberty to act as he pleases. The Tories dare not have assembled offensively, had they known that their lives, by that act, were forfeited to the laws of the State.
A line of distinction should be made between English soldiers taken in battle and inhabitants of America taken in arms. The first are prisoners, but the latter traitors. The one forfeits his liberty and the other his head. Notwithstanding our wisdom, there is a visible feebleness in some of our proceedings, which gives encouragement to dissensions. The Continental Belt is too loosely buckled, and if something is not done in time, we will be too late to do anything, and we shall fall into a state in which neither reconciliation nor independence will be practicable.
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The king and his worthless adherents are got at their old game of dividing the continent, and there are not wanting among us printers who will be busy spreading specious falsehoods. The artful and hypocritical letter which appeared a few months ago in two of the New York papers, and likewise in two others, is an evidence that there are men who want either judgment or honesty. It is easy getting into holes and corners and talking of reconciliation. But do such men seriously consider how difficult the task is and how dangerous it may prove?
Should the continent divide thereon? Do they take within their view all the various orders of men whose situation and circumstances, as well as their own, are to be considered therein? Do they put themselves in the place of the sufferer whose all is already gone, and of the soldier who hath quitted all for the defense of his country? If their ill-judged moderation be suited to their own private situations only, regardless of others, the event will convince them that they are reckoning without their host. Put us, some say, on the footing we were on.
in 63, to which I answer the request is not now in the power of Britain to comply with. Neither will she propose it, but if it were and even should be granted, I ask as a reasonable question, by what means is such a corrupt and faithless court to be kept to its engagements? Another Parliament, nay, even the present, may hereafter repeal the obligation on the pretense of its being violently obtained or unwisely granted. And in that case, where is our redress? No going to the law with nations.
Canon are the barristers of crowns, and the sword, not of justice, but of war, decides the suit. To be on the footing of 63, it is not sufficient that the laws only be put on the same state, but that our circumstances, likewise, be put on the same state. Our burnt and destroyed towns repaired or built up, our private losses made good, our public debts contracted for defense discharged. Otherwise, we shall be millions worse than we were in unbearable period. Such a request had it been complied with a year ago.
at that end.
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would have won the heart and soul of the continent. But now it is too late. The Rubicon is passed. Besides the taking up arms, merely to enforce the repeal of a pecuniary law seems as unwarrantable as the divine law, and as repugnant to human feelings as the taking up arms to enforce obedience thereto. The object on either side doth not justify the means, for the lives of men are too valuable to be cast away on such trifles. It is the violence which is done and threatened to our persons, the destruction of our property by the armed force.
The invasion of our country by fire and sword, which conscientiously qualifies the use of arms, and the instant in which such a mode of defense became necessary, all subjugation to Britain ought to have ceased, and the independency of America should have been considered as dating its era from, and published by, the first musket that was fired against her. This line is a line of consistency, neither drawn by caprice nor extended by ambition, but produced by a chain of events of which the colonies were not the authors.
I shall conclude these remarks with the following timely and well-intended hints. We ought to reflect that there are three different ways by which an independency may hereafter be affected, and that one of those three will one day or other be the fate of America, these by the legal voice of the people in Congress, by a military power, or by a mob. It may not always happen that our soldiers are citizens, and the multitude, a body of reasonable men, virtue, as I have already remarked, is not hereditary. Neither is it perpetual. Should an independency be brought about by the first of those means,
We have every opportunity and every encouragement before us to form the noblest, purest Constitution on the face of the earth. We have it in our power to begin the world over again, a situation similar to the present hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the event of a few months. The reflection is awful. And in this point of view, how trifling, how ridiculous, do the little partly
caverlings of a few weak or interested men appear when weighed against the business of a world. Should we neglect the present favorable and inviting period, and in independence be hereafter effected by any other means, we must charge the consequence to ourselves, or to those, whose narrow and prejudiced souls are habitually opposing the measure, without either inquiring or reflecting. There are reasons to be given in support of independence, which men should rather privately think of than be publicly told of. We ought not now
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to be debating whether we shall be independent or not, but anxious to accomplish it on a firm, secure, and honorable basis, and uneasy rather than it is not yet begun upon. Every day convinces us of its necessity. Even the Tories, if such beings yet remain among us, should, of all men, be the most solicitous to promote it, for, as the appointment of committees at first protected them from popular rage, so a wise and well-established form of government will be the only certain means of continuing it securely to them. Wherefore,
If they have not virtue enough to be wigs, they ought to have prudence enough to wish for independence. In short, independence is the only bond that can tie and keep us together. We shall see our object, and our ears will be legally shut against the schemes of an intriguing as well as a cruel enemy. We shall then too be on a proper footing to treat with Britain. For there is reason to conclude that the pride of that court will be less hurt by treating with the American states for terms of peace than with those whom she denominates rebellious subjects for terms of accommodation.
It is our delaying it that encourages her to hope for conquest, and our backwardness tends only to prolong the war. As we have, without any good effect therefrom, withheld our trade to obtain a redress of our grievances, let us now try the alternative, by independently redressing them ourselves and then offering to open the trade. The mercantile and reasonable part in England will be still with us because peace with trade is preferable to war without it. And if the offer be not accepted, other courts may be applied to.
On these grounds I rest the matter. And as no offer hath yet been made to refute the doctrine contained in the former editions of this pamphlet, it is a negative proof that either the doctrine cannot be refuted or that the party in favor of it are too numerous to be opposed. Wherefore, instead of gazing at each other with suspicious or doubtful curiosity, let each of us hold out to his neighbor the hardy hand of friendship and unite in drawing a line which, like an act of oblivion, shall bury in forgetfulness every former dissension.
Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct, and let none other be heard among us than those of a good citizen, an open and resolute friend, and a virtuous supporter of the rights of mankind and of the free and independent states of America. End of appendix. End of Common Sense by Thomas Paine.
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Speaker 2 (01:05:29.634)
This episode of Stupid Sexy Privacy was recorded in Hollywood, California. It was written by B.J. Mendelsohn, produced by Andrew Van Voorst, and hosted by me, Rosie Tran. And of course, our program is sponsored by our friends DuckDuckGo. If you enjoy the show, I hope you'll take a moment to leave us a review on PocketCast, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you may be listening. This won't take more than two minutes of your time, and leaving us a review will help other people find it.
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Bonzo, I wish that you'll have many more birthdays just like this one, with those you love and trust around you always to share your happiness. And I wish that you'll get a chance very soon to prove that being loved and looked after like a human being has made you feel like a human being. And that if love can do that to you, then it ought to be able to make some other human beings human beings.