The 2024 presidential election painted a dismal image — a rustic break up crimson and blue, a near-even divide, reminding us how fractured we’ve turn into. Regardless of this polarization, almost three-quarters of Americans agree on one factor: Our democracy is beneath menace.
In these respects, immediately’s America resembles the America of 1776, when divisions threatened the way forward for the democratic experiment. As patriots readied for battle and loyalists clung to the British crown, Thomas Paine revealed “Common Sense,” a fiercely persuasive pamphlet that united Colonists to battle towards monarchy within the identify of self-rule.
“It’s not in numbers, however in unity, that our nice energy lies,” Paine argued. To that finish, he turned democratic beliefs right into a shared goal. America, sure to the need of its individuals, challenged a world sure to the need of kings. And with “Frequent Sense,” Paine joined People collectively within the daring perception that “we’ve got it in our energy to start the world over once more.”
Quickly, Paine’s pamphlet was in all places — whispered by troopers in Valley Forge tents, shouted in Philadelphia taverns, quoted in sermons. With half a million copies sold by the top of the American Revolution, “Frequent Sense” stays one of many best-selling works of all time relative to the U.S. inhabitants (2.5 million in 1776, not counting slaves and Native People).
If not for “Frequent Sense,” america may not exist as we all know it. Now, almost 250 years later, Paine’s pamphlet stands not simply as a relic of historical past however as a blueprint for preserving democracy. From difficult authoritarian rule to limiting the sway of the rich to upholding the need of the bulk, Paine’s phrases are extra related now than ever.
And his message was clear: We should unite to confront the forces that threaten the republic — beginning with the specter of absolute energy.
Paine’s critique of unchecked authority was central to his argument for a authorities of, by and for the individuals. He noticed King George III’s rule because the epitome of tyranny, and warned that “a thirst for absolute energy is the pure illness of monarchy.” That warning resonates as Donald Trump returns to workplace with a well-documented document of testing and stretching the bounds of energy.
In July, as Trump’s efforts led the Supreme Courtroom to broaden presidential immunity, Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent echoed Paine’s issues. She wrote, “In each use of official energy, the President is now a king above the law” — a deep departure from the assertion in “Frequent Sense” that “in America, the legislation is king … and there must be no different.”
However Paine’s issues prolonged past authoritarian leaders. “Frequent Sense” additionally decried the outsized affect of the rich. With frequent condemnations of “aristocratical tyranny,” Paine scrutinized the wealthy as “slaves to worry” and alleged that “their minds are early poisoned by significance.” Paine believed American democracy couldn’t survive if energy was purchased and offered by the rich elite. And, once more, his warnings apply immediately.
Supreme Courtroom rulings akin to Citizens United, the choice that unleashed limitless election spending by firms and people, have turned Paine’s fears into our actuality. The 2024 elections noticed a staggering $16 billion in campaign expenditures — with cash coming from small donors but in addition tremendous PACs and not less than 150 billionaire families. With Republicans and Democrats capitalizing on nearly unchecked spending, each events are complicit in a system by which affect might be purchased by the very best bidder.
Paine’s rebuke of kings and aristocrats was grounded in a democratic bulwark: truthful illustration. Amid Colonial protests towards unjust taxes, the cry “no taxation with out illustration” lit a rebellious spark. Then “Frequent Sense” set it ablaze, insisting that “there is no such thing as a political matter which extra deserves our consideration” than “massive and equal illustration” — a requirement unmet by America’s rulers throughout the ocean.
Centuries later, as insurance policies drift farther from majority views, People are confronting a brand new ocean. Not one measured in miles however in understanding, and simply as huge. The autumn of Roe vs. Wade disregarded the need of 63% of Americans who support access to abortion in “all or most cases,” according to the Pew Research Center. Pew reckons that 61% of Americans suppose it’s too simple to personal a gun on this nation, and 63% want to abolish the electoral college. However public will stays overshadowed by political custom.
This hole between political realities and majority beliefs is fueled by tribalism and the pursuit of energy, with social gathering loyalty outpacing the wants and wishes of constituents. As historian Craig Nelson advised me, Paine could be “befuddled” by immediately’s red-versus-blue divide. For Paine, unity was not simply a great however a survival technique. Our trendy polarization represents a give up to the very forces Paine warned towards.
To forestall American democracy from failing, we should be taught from its starting. And studying from “Frequent Sense” means upholding rules the Colonists died for: leaders accountable to the individuals, affect that can not be purchased and legal guidelines that replicate the need of the bulk.
“Frequent Sense” was greater than a rallying cry; it was Paine’s effort to forge an American id rooted in a dedication to self-governance and belief within the energy of the numerous — not the few. Paine’s biggest lesson is that our energy lies in our collective resolve to unite, simply as democracy requires.
A democracy’s salvation lies inside itself. To avoid wasting the American experiment, we should keep in mind how its potential first introduced us collectively. Overcoming the darkness of our divides received’t be simple. However as “Frequent Sense” tells us, “The solar by no means shined on a reason for higher value.”
A.T. McWilliams is a poet and author primarily based in Brooklyn.
