Where’s Thomas Paine when we need him?
More and more it seems like the idea of common sense has become old hat. But just as Occam’s Razor says that the simplest answer is usually the correct answer, common sense almost always leads to better results. Why have we abandoned it for “throw shit at a fan and see what happens”?
A few thoughts on common sense
- It’s not common sense for everyone to carry a gun in public.
- It’s not common sense to acquit a man who brought an AR-15 to a riot and deputized himself to shoot three people and kill two of them.
- It’s not common sense to ban all abortions after six weeks.
- It’s not common sense for a minority (as few as one or two people) to be able to stall necessary and popular legislation.
- It’s not common sense to let small but loud groups oppress reasonable debate.
- It’s not common sense to try to hide historical facts from schoolchildren.
- It’s not common sense for a tiny percentage of the population (.1%) to hold as much wealth as the bottom 90%.
- It’s not common sense to allow media networks to broadcast demonstrable lies over public airwaves.
- It’s not common sense for courts to permit trials with racial implications to seat all-white or nearly all-white juries.
- It’s not common sense to expect all Americans to accept major cultural changes overnight.
- It’s not common sense to hope for a political sea change when all indicators suggest it won’t happen.
- It’s not common sense to expect a political party to change strategy when its strategy is effective.
- It’s not common sense to believe an election was stolen when no evidence of it has been produced and numerous courts have found the exact opposite.
- It’s not common sense to think that Democrats and liberals eat babies.
- It’s not common sense for parents to control what public schools teach and how they teach it.
- It’s not common sense to restrict access to the ballot when voting is a right, not a privilege.
- It’s not common sense to believe that common sense will eventually prevail.
Obviously I could go on and on. Care to add anything to this list?
[Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash.]
7 comments on “Where’s Thomas Paine when we need him?”
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WHAT THE HELL 
I think you pretty much covered it, and I agree on all points. And your bigger point: Republicans have abandoned all common sense.
Between the idea that there can be multiple realities and the fact that millions of people have drunk the MAGA Kool-Aid, I don’t see much hope for common sense making a quick return.
Totally agree and I see it in daily life and not just in the types of things you list here. At work, with my family, in so many ways, common sense is becoming a thing of the past. The ability to think rationally and logically … pfffft!!! Who needs it.
I just don’t get it. Life can be so easy if people would just … Never mind. We’re toast.
In my work life I was well-respected and sought out for my advice on a lot of things, not just legal matters. People would thank me for my advice. I so wanted to say all too frequently, “It was nothing. Just common sense.” Which it was, nine times out of ten.
What does common sense have to do with multi-national corporations grifting the working class and enslaving the population?
Nada.