My Political ID

I vote in every election, Presidential and mid-term.  EVERY election.  Since I could.

I have moved often within the states over the years.  And one of the very first things that I always do is register with their Board of Elections.  My right to vote is precious to me.

I have been a registered Republican and I have been a registered Democrat.  I have even been registered with a third party.

Katy Perry and Allah

To my Muslim brothers and sisters:

For starters, you may not choose to call me brother when you finish reading what I have to say.

For hundreds of years, Jews have suffered indignities from their fellow-Americans.

For hundreds of years, Roman Catholics have suffered indignities from their fellow-Americans.

Gay Rights and Religious Freedom

The state of Arizona (with its Senate Bill 1062: Denial of Service to Gays on the grounds of religious beliefs) presents us with an interesting problem. Who has rights and who does not? The issue argues the rights of gays to be served anywhere in public vs. the rights of business owners to refuse to sell to gays (because of religious freedom).

Let me begin by suggesting that no Christian religion worthy of the name discriminates against gays. Jesus would not have approved. The Old Testament, maybe. But Jesus, never. But that is just my opinion (we both read the same Book; we are just pointing to different passages in the same Book).

Patriotism

“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”

WTF???!!!

This is the most famous quotation ever about patriotism, and it is a slander!

Introduction to My Blog

I am "A Son of Common Sense," a son therefore of Thomas Paine (1737 – 1809), who was sometimes called plain “Common Sense,” after his pamphlet’s title.  Paine's Common Sense (1776) was the most important and most persuasive argument for the colonies’ independence from Great Britain.  It called on us to form a democratic republic, it called us for the first time the “United States of America,” and it can honestly be called the father of the Declaration of Independence, whose sentiments echo its own.  It was by far the biggest selling book in U.S. history – after the Bible of course – as it sold 500,000 copies to a population of 2,000,000 (which would be like selling 80,000,000 copies in today’s America).  Paine published Common Sense anonymously and he earned not a penny from its sale.  He cared about his message.  (As an aside, a half-dozen new biographies have been written about Thomas Paine since the turn of the century.  Here is an article from Wired magazine written in 1995 that may have sparked the renewed interest in my Dad).  And here is Bill Moyers interviewing a conservative and a liberal, both huge fans of Paine.

I care about my message too.