Common Sense by Thomas Paine (41/53)

As I've previously discussed here, anonymity on the web and on this blog is appropriate. After all, our Founding Fathers hid behind pseudonyms routinely. In this ongoing piece, I'm highlighting one of the more famous anonymous writings from a Founding Father - Common Sense by Thomas Paine.

Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority, perfect equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe are all (and we may say always) in peace. Holland and Swisserland are without wars, foreign or domestic: Monarchical governments, it is true, are never long at rest; the crown itself is a temptation to enterprizing 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.

This seems to me to be a perfectly good explanation on why every member of Congress who abdicated his/her power to vote to declare war (by way of "authorizing the use of force in Iraq") should be immediately impeached, convicted and tossed from office. We can start with Chris Dodd (D-Wall Street).

The President is not King. Nor was the position intended to have such authority.

Tim White