tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-306234672011-04-22T01:18:19.412-04:00Addressed to the Citizens of the United States: A People that sacrifices its liberties to achieve security is deserving of neither, and will end up losing both-- "Without Vision, the People Perish!"TomPaine06http://www.blogger.com/profile/09031521539546105600noreply@blogger.comBlogger91100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30623467.post-1151997400210944182006-07-04T02:56:00.000-04:002006-07-05T18:41:52.010-04:00

Philadelphia, July 4, 2006Without vision, the People perish. And democratic government dies with them-- So the founders of this nation understood, and so they established not only a constitutional government of three branches structured by checks and balances, but also insisted that the first amendment be incorporated into the Constitution to guarantee that the freedom of the press and public

TomPaine06http://www.blogger.com/profile/09031521539546105600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30623467.post-1151996191857383662006-07-04T02:47:00.000-04:002006-07-04T03:37:45.776-04:00

Perhaps the thoughts contained in the following pages about how we, as citizens, must reclaim the reigns of government from the control of private corporate interests, are not yet wide-spread enough to shape a fundamental reform of our politics in this year's mid-term elections. Perhaps these ideas about the kind of concerted action needed by the American people to make sure our elected

TomPaine06http://www.blogger.com/profile/09031521539546105600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30623467.post-1151995652158530132006-07-04T02:33:00.000-04:002006-07-04T03:32:49.293-04:00

As the people of this nation more than two hundred years ago initiated the great series of democratic political revolutions that in the course of the next two centuries would reshape the political geography of the world, I believe we can again reverse the recent tragic course of our government and begin to shape the history of the world in the twenty-first century for the better--rather than the

TomPaine06http://www.blogger.com/profile/09031521539546105600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30623467.post-1151994786164175612006-07-04T02:25:00.000-04:002006-07-04T03:44:52.716-04:00

While today we do not have the King of England to contend with in bringing about our needed revolution in the powers of citizenship, there is another Power, with the pretensions of overlordship, that is today’s equivalent of King George II of England. This overlord is not simply our own George II, who is in many ways only the most visible representation and (the least eloquent) spokesman for the

TomPaine06http://www.blogger.com/profile/09031521539546105600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30623467.post-1151994209207655222006-07-04T02:11:00.000-04:002006-07-04T03:33:37.086-04:00

Because of the fundamental confusion of private and public interests in framing the rationale, policy, and the means for going to war in Iraq, the United States was doomed to get bogged down in a tragic quagmire because it took upon itself an ideologically-motivated mission of democratic nation-building, without having first rediscovered for itself what democratic institutions of for its own

TomPaine06http://www.blogger.com/profile/09031521539546105600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30623467.post-1151993470380748682006-07-04T02:02:00.000-04:002006-07-04T03:33:57.306-04:00

Private corporations as instruments of the pursuit of private profit are not evil by nature, or destructive of the common good, if their limited purpose and value are clearly understood, and arrangements are made to allow them to fulfill their proper role within the larger frame of a well-regulated democratic commonwealth.Corporations are powerfully constituted to serve the economic and social

TomPaine06http://www.blogger.com/profile/09031521539546105600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30623467.post-1151992895514556442006-07-04T01:56:00.000-04:002006-07-04T03:34:21.406-04:00

That the interest of every part of the country may be attended to, representative government will work best when the elected do not form to themselves an interest separate from the electors. This is why it is not only to have frequent elections, and for the elected representatives to frequently returning home to mix with the public that elected them, but also to have clear laws against the kinds

TomPaine06http://www.blogger.com/profile/09031521539546105600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30623467.post-1151992498475413792006-07-04T01:34:00.000-04:002006-07-04T03:34:38.523-04:00

In order to turn away from policies that are leading the world into a century of increasing environmental devastation, terrorism, and human suffering, we must create and struggle together to implement a clear policy agenda of priorities for the nation. This agenda will help our government to establish an effective framework for overcoming the fundamental challenges that face us in the

TomPaine06http://www.blogger.com/profile/09031521539546105600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30623467.post-1151989567155080572006-07-04T00:55:00.000-04:002006-07-04T01:06:07.166-04:00

If we inquire into the business of corporations, and especially of transnational corporations, we shall find that in some countries they are allowed to control almost the entire machinery of government, while the citizens are deprived of any real political power whatsoever, except perhaps for voting for candidates already preselected by corporate interests. After exploiting the labor of citizens

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