Politics & Common Sense — Column by John Spencer
These are the times that try men’s souls.
Thomas Paine
It is a phrase many Americans recognize, often quoted without fully recalling its origin or urgency. Those words were written by Thomas Paine during the most dangerous period of the American Revolution, when independence was far from certain and loyalty to the British Crown remained widespread.
In December 1776, the Continental Army was retreating, morale was collapsing, and enlistments were expiring. The cause appeared close to failure. It was at this moment that Paine published the first installment of The American Crisis. Its opening line was not intended as poetry. It was a blunt assessment of reality, followed by a call to perseverance when defeat seemed more likely than victory. The essays were distributed widely and read aloud to soldiers and civilians alike, helping to steady a fragile movement when resolve was at its lowest point.
Thomas Paine was not a general, nor was he a statesman or landowner. He was an immigrant, born in 1737 in Thetford, England, the son of a working tradesman. When he arrived in America in 1774, he carried little money, no political connections, and no guarantee of success. What he did bring was a sharp mind, a moral clarity about liberty, and an uncommon ability to communicate complex political ideas in language ordinary people could understand.
When Common Sense and The American Crisis were published, Paine did not write for elites, philosophers, or established power brokers. He wrote for farmers, craftsmen, merchants, laborers, and soldiers. His prose was plain, deliberate, and uncompromising. He rejected the ornamental language common to political writing of the time and replaced it with arguments designed to persuade working people that self-government was not only possible, but necessary.
That historical fact raises an important question. Why should modern Americans care about documents written for the American colonies nearly 250 years ago? What practical value do they hold for current and future generations?
One of the most enduring messages from Common Sense, particularly relevant to Idahoans today, is Paine’s insistence that political power must always remain accountable to the people it governs. He rejected the idea that authority should be obeyed simply because it exists or because it has always existed. In Paine’s view, legitimacy flows upward from the consent of the governed, not downward from institutions, traditions, or titles. Elections matter, but they are only one expression of that consent, not the entirety of it.
Applied locally, this principle has direct consequences. Decisions about schools, land use, taxation, public safety, and regulation should never be treated as distant abstractions or inevitable outcomes. Paine would have warned that when citizens assume “someone else is handling it,” authority quietly drifts away from public oversight.
Common Sense reminds modern communities that liberty is not sustained by slogans or inherited systems. It requires daily responsibility, attention to detail, and a willingness to question whether decisions truly serve the public good.
Paine understood that freedom demanded endurance, sacrifice, and informed conviction. He warned that tyranny advances not only through force, but through apathy and fear, when citizens grow passive and disengaged.
During the Revolution, his essays reinforced the understanding that the struggle was not merely a military campaign, but a defense of principle. That lesson remains relevant. In North Idaho, in Kootenai County, our state, and across the country, civic engagement cannot be treated as optional or occasional.
Local governance is shaped not in distant capitals, but by those who show up, stay informed, and insist on accountability. Do we recognize that disengagement at the local level as a quiet surrender?
Another reason Thomas Paine matters today is that he never encouraged blind loyalty. In later writings, including Rights of Man, he argued that rights are inherent, not granted by governments or inherited through titles.
Governments exist to protect those rights, and when they fail to do so, they lose moral legitimacy. I believe that this was a radical assertion in his time, and it remains uncomfortable in ours.
It is reasonable to argue, and my opinion, that this philosophy is largely absent from modern education. Students are often taught the outcomes of the American Revolution without engaging the ideas that made it possible. When history is reduced to dates, battles, and names, its purpose is diminished. Paine did not simply record events. He provided the intellectual framework of the founding era. He explained why liberty mattered, why self-government was worth defending, and why citizens themselves bear responsibility for preserving both.
It is my opinion that the core lessons from Paine’s writings remain clear. Government must remain subordinate to the people. Liberty requires constant vigilance, especially during periods of uncertainty. Rights are inherent, yet fragile. An informed and engaged citizenry is not optional. It is the foundation of a free society.
Remembering Thomas Paine should not be an exercise in nostalgia. His writings should remind Idahoans, and all Americans, that freedom was never guaranteed, never effortless, and never permanent without participation.
Note: The writings of Thomas Paine are widely available in print, digital, and audio formats through major booksellers, including Amazon.
