Tom Paine: Revolutionary, Abolitionist, Indigenous Ally

INTERNATIONALIST

By Ted Glick

June 29, 2026

Source: Originally published by Z. Feel free to share widely.

The statue of Thomas Paine 1737-1809 in Thetford, Norfolk commemorates his life in the town as a young man. The plinth describes him as "World Citizen, Englishman by Birth, French Citizen by Decree, American by Adoption". | Image by Porteous via Flickr | CC BY 2.0

“There is nothing more common than to confound the terms of the American Revolution with those of the late American war. The American war is over, but this is far from being the case with the American revolution. On the contrary, nothing but the first act of the great drama is closed.”   1787, Benjamin Rush
     -the beginning of the book, Citizen Tom Paine, by Howard Fast, 1943

The writings below are primarily from a column I published on July 5, 2020. It was a review of the book, Citizen Tom Paine. I am writing this updated version of it again now in connection with the upcoming 250^th anniversary of the 1776 USA Declaration of Independence.

Are there going to be any July 4^th events later this week anywhere in the USA that raise up the name and the importance of Tom Paine? Perhaps, but probably a very small number. This will be the case even though, without Tom Paine, it is likely that the war of independence against British colonialism that forged what became the United States of America never would have succeeded. That is how important this poor, struggling, working-class, English immigrant was to the revolutionary cause. This was a person who made a difference.

It is rare, from my experience, that the name Tom Paine is voiced among those in 21^st century USA who see themselves as revolutionaries or on the political Left. I understand why this is the case, but I think there are very good reasons why we should be raising up his name as we continue to build our growing, 21^st century, revolutionary movement for “liberty and justice for all.” A very big one is because he is one of the few well-known leaders of that popular uprising who was not a landowner, who was one of the “common people,” and who opposed both the enslavement of African people and the horrific treatment of the Indigenous nations of the lands which became the USA.

Howard Fast’s book is not a biography of Paine; it’s a work of historical fiction. But it presents the truth about the man, from his very real personal weaknesses and warts to his brilliance as a writer, speaker and organizer, his commitment to the causes of overthrowing tyranny of all kinds, “a way for children to smile, some freedom, liberty, and hope for the future, men with rights, decent courts, decent laws, men not afraid of poverty and women not afraid of childbirth.” (p. 77)

Paine saw himself as a revolutionist. This was his life’s work. In a fictional exchange with fellow revolutionist and doctor Benjamin Rush, in a discussion about revolution, Rush articulates what was historically new about what was happening in the American colonies in the 1770’s: “The strength of many is revolution, but curiously enough mankind has gone through several thousand years of slavery without realizing that fact. But here we have a nation of armed men who know how to use their arms; we have a Protestant tradition of discussion as opposed to autocracy; we have some notion of the dignity of man [mainly white men]. . . but now we must learn technique, we must learn it well. . .Six months ago you were rolled in the dirt [assaulted] because people knew what you were writing; two weeks ago a man in New York was almost tarred and feathered because he planned to publish an answer to [Paine’s] Common Sense. That’s not morality; that’s strength, the same kind of strength the tyrants used, only a thousand times more powerful. Now we must learn how to use that strength, how to control it. We need leaders, a program, a purpose, but above all we need revolutionists.” (pps. 116-117)

Paine was a particular kind of writer, one who was immersed in the cause of independence, on the front lines of deadly battles, spending time in the bitter winter encampments of the nascent continental army, organizing, encouraging men to stick with it, inspiring them and pointing out how important what they were doing was. “This was all Paine had ever thought of or dreamed of, the common men of the world marching together, shoulder to shoulder, guns in their hands, love in their hearts.” (p. 124)

Fast paints a picture of Paine writing the first issue of The Crisis, a newspaper published during the war to present facts and strengthen morale: “The men gathered around him. They read as he wrote: ‘These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered. . . If there be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. . . Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and repulse it.” (p. 145)

That’s a good last line, relevant for us right now. Let the city, the suburbs and the rural areas come forth this November 3^rd to meet and repulse our common Trump/MAGA danger, this decade’s King George III and the Redcoats, and, after their defeat at the polls, let’s keep going to replace the unjust, destructive system which spawned them with something very, very different. It’s just common sense.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21^st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.Email

INTERNATIONALIST FREETHINKER 

Thomas Paine helped start America. In the Trump era, he's under fire.

In some ways, the debate over Paine's legacy today is a proxy for a much larger debate over whose vision gets to govern.

Jack Jenkins
May 13, 2026
RNS

(RNS) — Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., was revving up a crowd of tens of thousands gathered in Philadelphia for the first major No Kings protest last June. His speech, like the demonstration itself, was focused primarily on pushback against President Donald Trump, whom critics such as Raskin likened to a would-be monarch.

But after railing against the president, Raskin paused to focus on one of his favorite Founding Fathers: Thomas Paine, an English-born political writer who supercharged the American Revolution with his wildly popular pamphlet “Common Sense” 250 years ago.

Noting that he named his own late son after Paine, Raskin recalled the corset-maker-turned-revolutionary’s dream of an America that would operate as “an asylum to humanity.” Paine, he told the crowd, envisioned “a place of refuge for people seeking freedom from religious and political and intellectual and economic repression from around the world” — and then helped spur a revolution to make it a reality.

Less than a month later, at the inaugural service of Christ Church DC — a congregation organized by self-described Christian nationalist Doug Wilson and attended by influential conservatives, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — Pastor Jared Longshore delivered a sermon that held up Paine not as a hero, but a cautionary tale. Longshore dismissed Paine as someone who “exalted human reason to the place of a golden calf,” an apparent reference to Paine’s deism and his criticism of organized religion’s entanglements with political power.

Portrait of Thomas Paine by Laurent Dabos, circa 1791.

 (Image courtesy of National Portrait Gallery/Wikimedia/Creative Commons)

“Thomas Paine actually lost all of his old friends,” Longshore said, standing at a pulpit underneath an American flag. He then implied Paine’s fall from grace could be the ultimate fate of modern progressives, saying: “Only a few mourners came to his funeral, and even the Quakers wouldn’t let him be buried in their cemetery. That’s tough. Shows you how people used to think and how people are thinking now.”

The contrast captures not only Paine’s contested place in American memory, but the larger political and religious debate in the US over whose founding vision should govern.

Scholars say Paine’s historical importance is undeniable. A seminal and celebrated voice in the American Revolution, Paine was so influential that John Adams once referred to the late 1700s as “the age of Paine.” What’s more, in addition to his role in America’s founding, Paine, an Englishman, championed democratic values so fervently that he later became a leader in the French Revolution despite not speaking French.

But Paine ultimately proved polarizing in his own lifetime, largely because of his blistering critique of organized religion, historians say. Among other things, he helped initiate debates over the separation of church and state that continue to this day, resulting in a bifurcated legacy: Paine as a champion of freedom or Paine as the “Forgotten Founding Father” — embraced or dismissed, depending on who is doing the remembering.

That fissure appears to be growing amid ongoing celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the U.S., with left-leaning leaders who support the separation of church and state championing Paine even as he is derided by prominent Christian nationalist figures aligned with Trump. And as the Trump administration and its allies prepare a faith-themed event on the National Mall to “rededicate” America “as One Nation to God,” debate over Paine’s ideas — such as his passionate opposition to “mingling religion with politics” — is unlikely to abate.

Paine once enjoyed vocal bipartisan support in Washington. In 1992, bipartisan legislation, signed by President George H.W. Bush, authorized construction of a memorial, but the project stalled. A 2022 bill renewed the push for a Paine memorial that could be erected on the National Mall by 2030, but it is still awaiting approval from the U.S. Department of the Interior and, ultimately, Congress.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., speaks during a protest against the shuttering of the United States Refugee Admissions Program, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington. 

(RNS photo/Aleja Hertzler-McCain)

As the sponsor of the 2022 bill, Raskin is perhaps Paine’s most visible modern-day champion in Washington. The Maryland congressman told Religion News Service he first encountered Paine in high school by reading the revolutionary’s best-known works: “Common Sense,” “The American Crisis” and “The Rights of Man.” “I read Paine and I just felt like a light bulb went off,” Raskin said, noting that President Abraham Lincoln was also a fan of Paine. “(Paine) had this passionate and unwavering commitment to democracy as the system that will both protect people’s freedom and allow for mutual progress in society.”

Raskin often cites Paine in speeches and even pushed to name a congressional caucus he co-founded with Rep. Jared Huffman the “Thomas Paine Caucus.” The group, which boasts 36 members and is dedicated to both religious freedom and church-state separation, ended up being called the Congressional Freethought Caucus instead, although a portrait of Thomas Paine graces the group’s website.

“Tom Paine is still too radical a figure even in the 21st century, apparently,” Raskin joked.

Liberals, progressives and radicals across the globe have long claimed Paine as one of their own, often pointing to his progressive policy views for his day, such as opposition to slavery as well as support for public education and state-sponsored prenatal and postnatal care.

However, it is Paine’s views on religion — as well as how religion should interact with government — that have likely complicated his legacy. Raised in a Quaker home, Paine made several lengthy theological arguments in “Common Sense,” but ultimately declared himself a passionate deist.

“I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life,” Paine wrote. “I believe in the equality of man, and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavouring to make our fellow-creatures happy.”

"The Age of Reason" by Thomas Paine was controversial, in part because of his blistering critique of organized religion. (Public domain image)

"Common Sense" by Thomas Paine is credited with helping to inspire the American Revolution. (Public domain image)

In 1793, Paine published “The Age of Reason,” a lengthy critique of organized religion — especially what he called “the adulterous connection of church and state.” Among other claims, he wrote that he believed the American Revolution would be followed by revolutions in the religious world.

Seth Perry, who teaches American religious history at Princeton University, told RNS the book was hardly met with the rapturous praise enjoyed by “Common Sense.” Part of the issue, Perry said, was timing: “The Age of Reason” was published just as religious revivals associated with the Second Great Awakening had already swept across the U.S., and Paine’s involvement in the chaotic French Revolution — during which Paine himself was imprisoned — gave his ideological opponents in the U.S. cause to condemn him.

“There’s good scholarship showing how the anti-religious vibe of the French Revolution was used by those at the time who wanted more religion in the government as a cudgel to push back on people like Thomas Paine, who were pushing against religion in the government,” Perry said.

In the 20th century, some prominent conservatives embraced Paine, particularly President Ronald Reagan, who often referenced Paine in public remarks. But these days, Paine has become a target among far-right intellectuals, particularly those aligned with Christian nationalism or Catholic integralism, an ideology similar to Christian nationalism that advocates for a less overt approach to exerting Christian influence over society.

“We can find in Paine antecedents for almost every political ideology we find today,” Ben Wright, a professor of American history at the University of Texas at Dallas, said in an interview. “It’s curious to see who decides to claim him and who doesn’t — and that changes over time.”

It's curious to see who decides to claim him and who doesn't — and that changes over time.Ben Wright, professor of American History at the University of Texas at Dallas

At last year’s National Conservatism Conference in Washington, Patrick Deneen — a professor at the University of Notre Dame who is associated with Catholic integralism — urged conservatives to distance themselves from Paine. After acknowledging Paine’s influence, Deneen argued far-right thinkers have overlooked Paine’s involvement in the French Revolution and his longstanding debate with Edmund Burke, a seminal conservative intellectual figure.

“Paine was no conservative, and nor, really, was his political theology,” declared Deneen, who went on to voice support for more public religious expression in government. “I would submit that by adopting this Painian, Rousseauan, French Revolutionary … political theology that conservatism has been equally the cause of woe and destruction to the values and the institutions that conservatives all along claimed to hold dear.”

Patrick Deneen addresses the National Conservatism conference, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025, in Washington. (RNS photo/Jack Jenkins)

Gary Berton, president of the Thomas Paine Historical Association, acknowledges that Paine has long made some conservatives uncomfortable. But he insisted Paine’s criticisms of religion continue to inspire young people, many of whom are religiously unaffiliated: Berton said that, in recent years, young people often walk into the association’s building wanting to know more about Paine after reading “Age of Reason.”

Raskin, meanwhile, sees the hostility from conservatives in the Trump era as predictable.

“Monarchists and reactionary conservatives have always hated Tom Paine,” Raskin said, noting that Paine famously railed against the divine right of kings, the theology that monarchs answer only to God.

In the meantime, Raskin said, he is looking forward to a Paine memorial eventually being erected in Washington, and will continue to draw inspiration from a man he insists is unfairly maligned by those on the right.

“Democracy is always a controversial idea,” Raskin said. “Monarchy is obviously a betrayal of that idea. Aristocracy is a radical betrayal of that idea. Theocracy is just somebody dressing up their pretensions to power and dictatorship in religious garb.”

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for ATHEISM

America Has One Birthday, the USA Was Born on Another

The USA was born out of a reactionary effort against the ideas that birthed America by the oligarchs of the day who preferred making money to defending human rights. 

By Kary Love

April 7, 2026

Source: Originally published by Z. Feel free to share widely.

Image by Childe Hassam/Wikimediacommons, in public domain

America was formally born on July 4, 1776, with the Declaration of Independence, but the USA was not born until September 17, 1787 when the Constitution was adopted. America was born of revolution and a claim that god created human rights and government’s job was to preserve those rights, and any government that violated the peoples’ god-derived rights was not long for this world.

The USA was born out of a reactionary effort against the ideas that birthed America by the oligarchs of the day who preferred making money to defending human rights. That division has bedeviled the nation/country since as it oscillated along a spectrum between the two.

America v USA is a divide that has warped the nation’s psyche to the point that today, as has happened from time to time in the past, national schizophrenia is manifest.

America was not monolithic, nor in total agreement, when born. Estimates vary but only about 5% of the people supported the American Revolution and many were “Tories” who remained loyal to King George III and proud to be members of the “greatest purveyor of violence on the planet” at the time: the English Empire. The largest percentage of people were satisfied with just being left alone to try to get on with their lives.

But when the revolution was surprisingly, impossibly, incredibly won by the Rebels, the human world turned over. The idea that people had “inalienable rights” that even Kings must honor or be thrown into the dust bin of history was staggering. That even the government, the army, and all given government power, had to obey the law and respect the rights of the people who could withdraw their “consent” if government failed to do so, was a departure from most of human history that saw Kings, Emperors and other tyrants do as they wished and the people, called subjects, or peasants or serfs, merely suffer in silence.

Although it is claimed this idea resonated with humans around the world and led to a rise of democracy worldwide, back home in America it was not universally appreciated. In fact, as the ordinary Americans, farmers, shop owners and others exercised the rights won in the Revolution and specified in the Declaration of Independence, those with money found they could not make as much money as they wanted because those rights got in the way.

Farmers facing foreclosure would march en masse on courthouses to stop foreclosures and other resistance based on communities impeded the goals of those who pursued wealth and power. In order to reallocate the effects of the Revolution, the oligarchs of the day realized the law of revolution needed adjustment.

Although America had won the Revolution under the Articles of Confederation, arguably the second Constitution if the Declaration of Independence was the first, a more pro-business law was needed if money for the wealthy was to grow. And so, Congress authorized a meeting in Philadelphia to propose amendments to the Articles of Confederation to address some of the imbalance unruly Americans invoking their revolutionary rights were using to impair profiteering.

When convened in Philadelphia, the convention attracted mostly the wealthy as “representatives.” It was convened in secret.

Doing business in secret was an indicator that bad business was afoot, so many of the Revolutionaries were alarmed when they learned of it. Patrick Henry was asked to be a representative but refused, suspecting it would retreat from the rights won in the Revolution. Henry, rather than be a member, warned the people “I smell a rat,” when talking about what would happen in Philadelphia. 

In “Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution,” Woody Holton provides the startling history that the primary purpose of the Constitution was, simply put, to make America more attractive to investment and making money, not human rights. And the linchpin to that endeavor was taking power away from the states and ultimately away from the people. This is what birthed the Constitution, a reactionary backing away from the American Revolution. The Constitution, which birthed the USA, was a rebellion against the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence.

Unfortunately, Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence was ambassador to France in Paris and was not present at the Constitutional Convention. Tom Paine, another strong proponent of the “Rights of Man” and the revolutionary ideas, was also not present.

John Adams, admirer of the English unwritten Constitution, and author of a study of the best constitutions of history was a delegate to the Convention. The Constitution that emerged was largely the unwritten Constitution of England George III had asserted gave him the powers that caused the people to rebel.

Arguably the Constitution of 1787 gave victory back to the Tories and monarchists and was a reactionary derogation of the Declaration of Independence and the idea of universal human rights.

One of the gravest compromises, more odious than even England, was the recognition of human slavery in the Constitution, while in England slavery was on the way out and the English slave trade was ended in 1807.

The conflict between the principles of America—pro human rights derived from god and predominantly over government—and the principles of the Constitution birthing the USA—is stark. The Constitution is largely the written version of the unwritten English Constitution that failed the American people as the King became a tyrant and was overthrown in the Revolution. By 1787 the divergence of voices in America was no more monolithic than ever, many were the competing views and voices raised in support and in opposition. Despite the belief today that the Constitution was received by the people with open arms, back then, it barely passed in state conventions called to consider it.

In fact the division between Revolutionary Americans and the Tories remained, and led to fights over passage between the “Federalists” and the “Antifederalists,” with the former favoring and the latter opposing a vote for the Constitution. Patrick Henry, one of the antifederalist leaders, declared that if the Constitution passed without a Bill of Rights making “inalienable human rights” part of the supreme law, he volunteered to lead a new revolution against it. Patrick Henry, proponents of the Constitution believed, could pull off such a rebellion. Moderate supporters of the Constitution, such as James Madison, realizing Patrick Henry could rally sufficient support to defeat it, promised a Bill of Rights would be the first order of business in the new Congress if the Constitution passed. The Bill of Rights was adopted in 1791, partially restoring, in law, the principles of the Revolutionary Declaration of Independence.

However, power corrupts. When John Adams succeeded George Washington, in the election of 1800, the schizophrenic divide remained and was more pronounced as Thomas Jefferson was elected as Vice President although Jefferson opposed many of Adam’s views. Jefferson was pro France while Adams leaned towards the English, and when the threat of war with France appeared, President Adams secured passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts in Congress, where his Federalist Party was in power.

Adams was heavily mocked during his time as vice president and president for his preference for titles, formality, and what many contemporaries viewed as pompous, quasi-monarchical matters. His obsession with dignity and class made him a frequent target of political enemies, who used it to paint him as out of touch with the anti-aristocratic, republican values of the newly formed United States. 

As vice president, Adams advocated for grand titles for the president, such as His Highness, the President of the United States of America, and Protector of the Rights of the Same, which were rejected by the Senate in favor of the simple President of the United States.

The most famous insult, coined by opponents to mock Adams with his pompous desire for high-sounding titles and his physical appearance, was His Rotundity. Even the revolutionary lawyer John Adams became enamored by the pomp and circumstance of power. It can happen to anyone.

When the Alien and Sedition acts emerged, Jefferson warned America of the hard lesson of history: when government sought power it usually started with suspicious peoples but soon expanded if not thwarted, to anyone. Vice President Jefferson warned that the “friendless alien [the migrant] has been selected as the safest subject of a first experiment [in the expanded power to deny due process and other legal protections], but the citizen will soon follow.” Once the precedent was set and the power enshrined by practice and use, and the “aliens” all dealt with, the power would not evaporate but find new targets to retain funding and operational continuance. Government agencies seek to continue and expand their life and power like any other human created entity. 

The same schizoid values division continues to this day. Human rights America was born July 4, 1776. Money and power USA was born September 17, 1787. A balance was sought in the Bill of Rights adopted December 15, 1791. But the division remains to be manipulated and used by factions favoring one value side or the other, dividing the people into camps to be exploited for political power gain and loss.

As human rights recedes, power and money advance. As the rule of law promoting human rights for all is reversed, even the citizens’ rights erode, and power with its grim and grotesque embrace of blood and guts advances. The elevation of dominance and violence, the marks of power, to central roles in a civilization, run the risk of conflagration and a fire consuming far beyond any plan or strategy. Civilization itself can be consumed.

America has one birthday. The USA another. Their values are antithetical and inherently at odds. A house divided against itself erected on a flawed, cracked foundation continues to battle with itself and “friendless aliens” at home and enemy aliens abroad. It flails without direction, deploying power and harm, in search of no goal or direction. Unless the advance of power “uber alles” is rejected by the people, the rights of the citizens will soon become targeted and the dream of universal human rights set back, if not swept into the dust bin of history.

Which birthday we choose to celebrate will define the next stage: America or USA. They are not the same. But perhaps we can build a bridge joining the two, using both to advance the future of the nation, and our fellow citizens of earth, in a rising tide lifting all boats.

---

Kary Love, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is a Michigan attorney who has defended nuclear resisters and many others in court for decades.

REVOLUTIONARY HUMANIST & INTERNATIONALIST

REVOLUTIONARY HUMANIST & INTERNATIONALIST

National organizations unite to celebrate Thomas Paine’s Revolutionary War service at annual birthdate event: A Tribute to Thomas Paine’s Legacy

Thomas Paine Memorial Association

RNS Press Release Distribution Service

January 7, 2026

The Times That Tried Men’s Souls: Thomas Paine’s Service During The Revolutionary War

January 29, 2026 — Online Event | 4:00 PM PST / 7:00 PM EST
Registration Required:  us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register

The Thomas Paine Memorial Association (TPMA) and a coalition of leading secular, historical, and humanist organizations invite the public to the annual celebration of the birth of one of America’s most influential Founders — Thomas Paine. This year’s online commemorative program, “The Times That Tried Men’s Souls: Thomas Paine’s Service During The Revolutionary War,” will take place on Thursday, January 29, 2026.

TPMA, which educates about Paine’s legacy, has been authorized by Congress to erect a memorial to Paine in Washington, D.C. The group has since received preliminary approval to pursue a memorial in Area 1 (close to the United States Capitol Building). The approval bill is awaiting congressional action.

Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense and The American Crisis, played an indispensable role in igniting the call for independence and sustaining morale through the darkest moments of the Revolution. His writing, service, and vision for a democratic society continue to inspire generations. Paine’s contributions recently have been highlighted in Ken Burns’ documentary “The American Revolution.”

Event Highlights

Distinguished Opening Remarks
The program will commence with words from Members of Congress Jamie Raskin and Victoria Spartz, with a special appearance from Benjamin Franklin (portrayed by actor Brian Patrick Mulligan).

Keynote Presentation
Acclaimed historian and author Jack Kelly — whose book Tom Paine’s War explores Paine’s firsthand experiences during the Revolution — will deliver a keynote address examining Paine’s military service and enduring relevance. Kelly will cover:

• Paine’s background and rise to prominence
• His Common Sense pamphlet and his influence on the Declaration of Independence
• His service with the Pennsylvania militia and involvement with the Continental Army
• The fall of Fort Washington and Fort Lee
• The march across New Jersey
• The writing of The American Crisisand its impact on the battles of Trenton and Princeton
• Paine’s legacy in modern times

Readings from Paine’s Writings
Award-winning actor Ian Ruskin, known for his one-man show portraying Paine, will perform a dramatic reading from The American Crisis synchronized with a photo slide show of various images of the Paine memorial sculpted by Georg Lober, dedicated in 1950 in Morristown, New Jersey. The statue portrays Paine in the midst of writing The American Crisis during the Revolutionary War — capturing both his intellectual and patriotic courage.

A Veteran’s Perspective
Gene Jones of Florida Veterans for Common Sense will speak about Paine’s heroism, the challenges he faced after the war, and why Paine remains a powerful symbol of principled military service today.

Showcase: The Thomas Paine Cottage
A video created by Suzanne Tanswell and Gary Bush, trustees of the Huguenot New Rochelle Historical Association which owns the Thomas Paine Cottage in New Rochelle, New York, will highlight one of the most important historical sites connected to Paine’s life.

Additional Program Features

• Musical selection from the celebrated play ‘The Crossing’
• Live Q&A with Jack Kelly, Gary Berton, Christopher Cameron, Ian Ruskin, Margaret Downey, Gene Jones, Frances Chiu, Joy Masoff, Suzanne Tanswell, and Gary Bush
• Cosponsor messages from national organizations
• Credits slideshow
• A post-event Social Hour and Toasts, including a special opening toast by renowned sculptor Zenos Frudakis, who will show his progress in creating a statue of Thomas Paine that will be placed in a prestigious pre-approved location in Washington, D.C.

Event Hosts and Sponsors

The event will be co-hosted by TPMA President Margaret Downey and TPMA Board Member Christopher Cameron.

Sponsors include:

• Thomas Paine Memorial Association
• Black Nonbelievers
• Thomas Paine Historical Association
• Freethought Society
• Freedom From Religion Foundation
• Thomas Paine Society
• Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers
• American Atheists
• Secular Coalition for America
• American Humanist Association
• Center for Inquiry/Richard Dawkins Foundation

Join Us

This event offers an extraordinary opportunity to rediscover Thomas Paine’s contributions through scholarship, performance, and reflection.

Attendance is free, but pre-registration is required.

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ga-dvEPuR0iLzT5LA45BOw

###

Contact:
Margaret Downey, President
Thomas Paine Memorial Association
info@thomaspainememorial.org

Sdsu.eduloveman.sdsu.edu/docs/1776ThomasPaine.pdf

Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776

THOMAS PAINE. COMMON SENSE (1776). Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general ...

"Common Sense" by Thomas Paine is a pamphlet published in January 1776 advocating independence from Great Britain for the Thirteen Colonies. Written in clear, persuasive prose, Paine presents moral and political arguments to encourage common people to fight for egalitarian government. Published anonymously at the American Revolution's beginning, it became an immediate sensation—the best-selling American title of all time. Paine connected independence with Protestant beliefs and structured his work like a sermon, making the first serious case for full independence when reconciliation still dominated colonial thinking. (This is an automatically generated summary.) 

The Writings of Thomas Paine, Complete by Thomas Paine

"The Writings of Thomas Paine, Complete" by Thomas Paine is a historical collection of political writings compiled in the late 18th century. The volume includes influential pamphlets that played a pivotal role in shaping American revolutionary sentiment, particularly focusing on issues of independence and the fight against tyranny. The collected works provide profound insights into the social and political climate of the time, highlighting the struggle for freedom and democratic ideals. The opening of this work lays the groundwork for Paine's monumental series, "The American Crisis," which begins with a stirring call to action amidst the Revolutionary War. He reflects on the challenges facing American patriots, emphasizing the importance of perseverance and unity against oppression. The famous opening lines address the trials of these tumultuous times and encourage individuals to stand firm in their commitment to liberty, while also critiquing those who waver in their loyalty. Through vivid imagery and passionate prose, the initial segments set a tone of urgency and resolve, making it clear that the fight for independence is both a personal and collective responsibility. (This is an automatically generated summary.) 

Progressive Groups to Lead ‘ICE Out for Good’ Weekend Rallies After Renee Good Killing

“They have literally started killing us—enough is enough,” said one campaigner.


Protesters hold photos of Renee Nicole Good, who was shot and killed by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis, outside the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles on January 8, 2026.
(Photo by Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Brett Wilkins
Jan 09, 2026
COMMON DREAMS


Progressive advocacy groups are set to lead nationwide rallies this weekend to protest Wednesday’s killing of Renee Good by an immigration officer in Minneapolis and the Trump administration’s wider deadly mass deportation campaign.

Groups including 50501 Movement, Indivisible, the Disappeared in America campaign, MoveOn, the ACLU, Voto Latino, and United We Dream are planning demonstrations across the country to protest the killing of Good and what Indivisible called the “broader pattern of unchecked violence and abuse carried out by federal immigration enforcement agencies against members of our communities.”
RECOMMENDED...



Good, a US citizen, was shot multiple times by veteran Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation officer Jonathan Ross on Wednesday while driving in south Minneapolis. Bystander video shows Good slowly maneuvering a Honda Pilot SUV in an apparent effort to drive away from officers when Ross draws his pistol and fires at her head.

President Donald Trump and senior members of his administration quickly spread lies about Good, with the president saying she “ran over” Ross and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others accusing the 37-year-old mother of three—one of whose children is now orphaned—of “domestic terrorism.”

“After ICE executed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis and federal agents shot two more people in Portland, the 50501 Movement is demanding the immediate abolition of ICE,” 50501 said in a statement Friday. “Renee Nicole Good and the Portland victims are just the most recent victims of ICE’s reign of terror. ICE has brutalized communities for decades, but its violence under the Trump regime has accelerated.”


“Marginalized communities have taken the brunt of their force; in 2025, at least 32 people died in ICE custody,” 50501 added. “This past September, ICE shot and killed Silverio Villegas González, a father and cook from Mexico who was living in Chicago. In that same city, a Border Patrol agent celebrated after repeatedly shooting and injuring Marimar Martinez. The American people have had enough.”

The ACLU said in a statement that “an ICE agent killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis mother, shooting her three times in the head through her car window. This is a reckless, horrific shooting that should have never happened.”

“Renee’s killing came just one day after the Trump administration stormed Minnesota communities with an unprecedented 2,000 federal agents. Children are afraid to go to school and Minnesota families are reeling from fear and a sense of chaos,” the group continued. “For months, the Trump administration has been deploying heavily armed federal agents into our communities. They are smashing car windows, dragging people from their cars, zip-tying children, and physically harming our neighbors—citizens and noncitizens alike.”

“We can’t wait around while ICE harms more people,” the ACLU added. “Congress MUST demand an end to these reckless immigration raids, and oppose any bill that would add to ICE’s already massive budget.”

United We Dream said that Good’s “brutal killing is a horrifying reminder of the threat armed forces pose to our collective safety, especially at a time when local, state, and federal officials have consistently called on the federal government to invest in the resources working families truly need—healthcare, housing, access to food—instead of indiscriminate terror in our communities.”

“In 2025 alone, 32 people died in immigration detention,” the group added. “Billions poured into immigration raids for the sake of ripping apart communities in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis does nothing but lead to irreparable damage, violence, and death. We demand an immediate end to this cruelty and for elected leaders at every level to speak out in defense of immigrant communities and our shared safety.”

MoveOn argued that “the Trump administration is not making anybody safe—they are creating chaos and destroying lives.”

“You don’t raid peaceful cities, schools, libraries, and churches unless your goal is to terrorize communities and silence dissent,” the group added. “MoveOn is outraged and devastated that the unnecessary, reckless, and escalatory deployment of ICE is causing even more senseless killings. Trump’s ICE agents need to follow the advice of local officials and leave Minnesota immediately.”

Represent Maine, an “ICE out for Good” national coalition partner, said in a promotion for a Saturday noon rally in Augusta that “ICE’s campaign of terror is out of control and leading to the murder of our people.”

“Entire communities are being traumatized,” the group continued. “Immigrants, refugees, and American citizens are being targeted. This is not normal border enforcement: This is state violence.”

“We will gather to remember those who have been killed, kidnapped, and disappeared by ICE, and the families and communities devastated in their wake,” Represent Maine added. “We demand ICE out of Maine NOW!”

Dan Harmon of 50501 Minnesota said Friday, “They have literally started killing us—enough is enough.”

“We are a peaceful and community-oriented state that will not allow the violent ICE secret police to continue kidnapping our neighbors and killing our friends,” he said. “Immediately after the shooting, hundreds of Minnesotans gathered to respond on site, just as we did in 2020 after officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd.”

“ICE must be removed from Minnesota and permanently abolished,” Harmon added.

The Killing of Renee Good Should Change How We Talk About ICE

Renee Good deserved to live. Her death should not be explained away or absorbed into process language. It requires accountability.


A demonstrator holds a sign during a vigil following a shooting by an ICE agent during federal law enforcement operations on January 7, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
(Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)

Suleiman Adan
Jan 08, 2026

Common Dreams

I want to be clear about what happened in Minneapolis.

This was not an “ICE shooting.”


Woman Killed by ICE Identified as Protesters Take to Streets in Minneapolis and Beyond

This was not a “law enforcement incident.”

This was the killing of Renee Good.

Renee Good was killed under a Trump administration that expanded ICE’s authority and encouraged aggressive enforcement nationwide.

Words matter. When we soften them, we make it easier to look away.

Renee Good was killed during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in Minneapolis, not far from where George Floyd was murdered on May 25, 2020. Many people in this city recognize what happens after state violence occurs. We have seen how language is used to slow things down and move attention elsewhere.

As I write this, ICE activity continues across Minneapolis. American citizens were picked up and detained at a local Target. Less than two miles from where Renee Good was killed, ICE agents detained two staff members at Roosevelt High School in South Minneapolis, where I went to school. Shortly after, the school went into lockdown. The library across the street closed. Schools across the city were closed for the rest of the week.

These actions affect far more than the individuals detained. They interrupt schools, workplaces, and daily life. They place entire neighborhoods in a state of fear.

Wednesday night, we went to the vigil for Renee Good. We stood on ice and snow where she had been killed only hours earlier. People came quietly. Many did not know what to say. The weight of what had happened was still there.

The response from authorities has raised serious concerns. Federal agencies have taken control of the investigation and have not allowed the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Minneapolis Police Department, or the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office to conduct their own independent investigations.

We continue to urge state and local authorities to investigate and to document what happened in pursuit of the (T)ruth. The (T)ruth does not lie. We know what we saw, just as we knew what we saw on May 25, 2020. Communities do not forget what they experience firsthand.

At CAIR-Minnesota, we work with families who adjust their lives to avoid harm. Parents change routines. Workers stay silent about exploitation. Survivors hesitate before calling for help because they are unsure who will respond. This is the reality many people live with when ICE operates without accountability.

Renee Good was killed under a Trump administration that expanded ICE’s authority and encouraged aggressive enforcement nationwide. Across the country, ICE has been doing the unimaginable, often without transparency and with serious consequences for communities.

Renee Good deserved to live. Her death should not be explained away or absorbed into process language. It requires accountability.

We have been here before.

We know what unchecked power looks like.

We will overcome.

We will see to it. As God is our witness.


Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.


Suleiman Adan
Suleiman Adan is the deputy executive director of CAIR-Minnesota.
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Renee Good Died From the Kind of State Violence Our Founders Warned Against

When state authority stops serving the people but instead lords over them, stops being questioned by the media and the people, and stops fearing consequences because it lives behind a shield of immunity, a police state is inevitable.


Protesters gather in Minneapolis after 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an Immgration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minnesota, United States on January 8, 2026.
(Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Thom Hartmann
Jan 09, 2026

Common Dreams



When I read that the young mother who was executed at point-blank range by one of President Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement goons on Wednesday was named Renee Nicole Good, it sent a chill down my spine.

As the pain and outrage was washing through me, it also struck me as almost too much of a coincidence that she was there protesting state violence and Ben Franklin had been using the name “Silence Dogood”—as in “Do Good”—to warn American colonists about the very same dangers of state violence.

Threat of NSPM-7 Made Clear as Kristi Noem Doubles Down on Blaming Renee Good for Fatal Shooting

When 16-year-old Franklin slipped his first Silence Dogood essay under the door of his brother’s print shop in 1722, America had few police departments, no body cameras, no qualified immunity, and few militarized patrols prowling city streets. But young Franklin already understood the danger.

Writing as a fictional widow, Franklin warned that “nothing makes a man so cruel as the sense of his own superiority.” The remark was in the context of self-important ministers, magistrates, and petty officials, but he was also talking about raw state power itself as we saw with the execution of Renee Nicole Good.

If we want to live in the democratic republic Franklin, Paine, and Madison imagined where power is given by “the consent of the governed,” then outrage isn’t enough.

Power that is insulated, Franklin taught, answers only to itself and believes its very authority excuses the violence it uses.

Franklin’s insight didn’t die on the printed page but, rather, became the moral backbone of the American Revolution. As Do-Good, he repeatedly cautioned us that power breeds cruelty when it’s insulated from consequence, that authority becomes violent when it believes itself superior, and that free speech is usually the first casualty of abusive rule.

In “Essay No. 6”, in 1722, Dogood wrote:
Whoever would overthrow the Liberty of a Nation must begin by subduing the Freeness of Speech.


Renee Nicole Good was on that Minneapolis street to express her freedom of speech, her outrage at the crimes, both moral and legal, being committed by ICE on behalf of Donald Trump, Tom Homan, Kristi Noem, and Stephen Miller.

Thomas Paine took Franklin’s warning and sharpened it into a blade. Government, Paine said, is a “necessary evil” but when it turns its legally authorized violence against its own people, it becomes “intolerable.” Authority doesn’t legitimize force, Paine argued; instead, the ability to use force without accountability inevitably corrupts authority.

And here we are. This is the ninth time ICE agents have shot into a person’s car, and the second time they’ve killed somebody in the process.

For Paine, violence by agents of the state isn’t an aberration, it’s the default outcome when power concentrates without clear accountability. Where Franklin warned about cruelty born of a sense of superiority (as armed, masked white ICE officers search for brown people as if they were the Klan of old), Paine warned us that force will always be directed against the governed unless that power is aggressively constrained.

James Madison—the “Father of the Constitution”—then took both men at their word. He didn’t design a constitution that assumed virtue; instead, he designed one that assumed abuse.

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary,” he wrote in Federalist 51, adding, “You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”


Because we and our politicians and police aren’t angels, Madison pointed out, state power must be restrained, divided, watched, and continuously challenged. Which is why the Framers of the Constitution adopted the checks-and-balances system—splitting the government into three co-equal parts—that Montesquieu recommended, based on what he had learned from the Iroquois (as I lay out in The Hidden History of American Democracy).

Franklin himself became even clearer about the threat of unaccountable state-imposed violence as he aged. Governments, he repeatedly warned, always claim violence is necessary for safety and we saw that Wednesday when puppy-killer Kristi Noem claimed that Renee Good was a “domestic terrorist.” Her comment is the perfect illustration of Franklin’s assertion that state violence, once normalized, always tries to claim justification.

To add insult to murder, Trump pathetically waddled over to his Nazi-infested social media site and claimed:
The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense. Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital… [T]he reason these incidents are happening is because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis.“


Silence Dogood would have confronted him head-on, as she-Franklin repeatedly did with the petty, self-important officials of colonial New England. He repeatedly noted that surrendering liberty for a little temporary security not only doesn’t prevent state brutality but actually it invites it. In a 1759 letter, Franklin explicitly warned us about men like Donald Trump and the siren song of “law and order”:
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.


Once a state teaches its agents that force is the solution, force becomes their habit. That’s how police states are formed out of democracies, as the citizens of Russia, Hungary, and Venezuela have all learned. And now, it appears, we’re learning as America becomes the world’s most recent police state.

This isn’t an uniquely American problem: It’s older than our republic. And Franklin told us exactly how it happens: When state authority stops serving the people but instead lords over them, stops being questioned by the media and the people, and stops fearing consequences because it lives behind a shield of immunity, a police state is inevitable.

As Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz noted Wednesday, the killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis wasn’t a “tragic anomaly.” It was the predictable outcome of systems Franklin would have recognized instantly; the kind of corrupt strongman systems that reward domination, excuse cruelty, and punish dissent.

Trump wants us on the “radical left” to shut up and go away. But Ben Franklin taught us that silence in the face of power isn’t neutrality but is, instead, an extension of permission. He wrote as Silence Dogood precisely because he understood that abuse flourishes when citizens turn their eyes away and lower their voices.

If we want to live in the democratic republic Franklin, Paine, and Madison imagined where power is given by “the consent of the governed,” then outrage isn’t enough. We must demand accountability, insist on transparency, and refuse to accept state violence and a firehose of official lies as the price of order.

Three centuries ago, a teenage printer’s apprentice warned us that silence enables abuse. He was right then. He is right now.


Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.


Thom Hartmann
Thom Hartmann is a talk-show host and the author of "The Hidden History of Monopolies: How Big Business Destroyed the American Dream" (2020); "The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America" (2019); and more than 25 other books in print.
Full Bio >

Trump and his vile liars forget one vital thing about the ICE victim they smear

John Casey
January 9, 2026

RAW STORY

A vigil for Renee Nicole Good, victim of the Minneapolis ICE shooting. REUTERS/Tim Evans

One of the most disturbing things about the Trump administration’s response to the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis isn’t just that they’re lying. It’s how easy the lying seems to be. It starts at the top, with the liar-in-chief, and trickles down through a dishonest and delusional cabinet.

They didn’t hesitate. They didn’t hedge. They didn’t wait for the facts. One wonders if they even watched the video evidence, because they contradicted it without blinking. Within hours, officials confidently described Good as a “domestic terrorist” who used her vehicle as a “weapon.”

Trump and his allies are inventing threats that simply do not appear in the footage all Americans can watch. The certainty with which they spew these fabrications tells you something important: they believe this strategy works. And that belief has less to do with the facts than with who Renee Good was.

She wasn’t famous. She didn’t hold office. She wasn’t wealthy or politically connected. She didn’t have a MAGA bumper sticker on her SUV.

She was a woman — that’s important. She was a mom, a neighbor, a queer woman married to another woman. She was living an ordinary suburban life. She was like millions of women across this country.

Good had no institutional power. No connections. She was harmed by the state, by Trump’s Gestapo, and her life was immediately sexualized, and flattened into justification. When armed ICE agents — all men — surrounded her car, one trying to open the door, she was terrified in a way most can easily imagine. She did what anyone would do: she tried to get away.

She had undoubtedly heard stories about rogue male ICE agents, how many have no law enforcement experience. How many can barely read or write. Fear had been planted. And that fear, entirely unnecessary, deliberately cultivated, sealed her fate.

After her death, Trump and his fellow misogynists turned that fear into “aggression.” Her confusion became “instability.” Her ordinariness became the excuse. The killing itself was treated as less important than protecting the thuggish authorities who carried it out.

That pattern explains why this administration dug in so quickly and so deeply. Lying about Renée Good was easy. It came from muscle memory. JD Vance said it was a “tragedy of her own making.” Trump said, “She behaved horribly.” Kristi Noem said, “She rammed [ICE agents] with her vehicle.” Notice the prevalent use of the female pronouns.

This response fits a posture toward women that runs through Trumpworld. Vance has built a political identity around belittling women’s judgment and independence. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has denied multiple allegations from women, including sexual assault. This week he announced a review of women’s role in combat, having said they don’t belong there.

As for Trump, he has been accused by numerous women of sexual assault and was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming journalist E. Jean Carroll. He has spent years smearing women who challenge him as “liars,” “nasty,” “pigs,” “dogs,” “slobs,” and “disgusting animals.”

The women in his administration offer no counterweight. Noem has gone after Good more aggressively than many male counterparts, showing little interest in advocating for women harmed by brutish agents of the state. She has chosen to posture as one of the guys in Trump’s hyper-masculine administration.

In this worldview, women are denied political agency. They are treated as variables to be managed, controlled, or erased.

Add queerness to the picture, and the erasure becomes even easier. The right has spent years portraying queer people, especially the trans community, as threats, criminals, or accessories to violence. Just look what happened after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, when right-wing meda like the New York Post twisted itself in knots trying to make a trans woman an accomplice.

Renée Good’s family? It was almost immediately scrubbed from the official narrative, replaced with a caricature meant to frighten and distract: a wild, antifa-like woman, driving ferociously, hell-bent on killing ICE agents.

The administration didn’t just lie about what happened. It erased who she was.

But there’s one thing they are forgetting: women are watching.

Women are no niche constituency. They are the largest and most decisive voting bloc. In recent elections, women, especially suburban women and mothers, have moved away from Trump-aligned politics, driven less by policy disagreements than by disgust with the cruelty, chaos, and impunity that define this movement.

Women are watching that video. They are reading about Renee Good. They do not see a “domestic terrorist” using her SUV as a weapon. They see someone like themselves. Someone ordinary. Someone who thought that being a law-abiding citizen, a parent, a neighbor, a friend — a soccer mom — would offer at least minimal protection from being lied about after death.

What they see instead is a government telling them not to believe their own eyes, and doing so with absolute confidence. But think of any mother you know. Think of your own mom. Think of your spouse. Women can spot a lie a mile away.

Tracking Trump’s lies used to feel like a never-ending game. It involved tallying exaggerations, fact-checking absurdities. But this is something else. This is lying as domination. It’s sinister. It’s inhumane. It’s vulgar. It’s dangerous. And it involves a human being who meant no harm. A human being who was murdered.


It is unforgivable.

Tragically, Renee Good’s death may not be remembered as the worst abuse of power in this era, or even the worst lie this administration tells. That alone is terrifying. Trump, Noem, Vance — none will show remorse. They will never admit wrongdoing. They will never apologize. Especially not to a woman.

Like every other woman-hater, they will only dig deeper.

But perhaps Renee Good’s death will be remembered as something else. Just maybe, it will be the moment when too many Americans, especially women, realized this administration believes some lives are small enough to lie about, and assumes no one would care.


That may be their biggest mistake.

John Casey was most recently Senior Editor, The Advocate, and is a freelance opinion and feature story writer. Previously, he was a Capitol Hill press secretary, and spent 25 years in media and public relations in NYC. He is the co-author of LOVE: The Heroic Stories of Marriage Equality (Rizzoli, 2025), named by Oprah in her "Best 25 of 2025.”