Common Sense

Billions of people proudly own a book which contains the above quote, or a variation of it. How many recognise this quote? Most have never read their book, nor any history. What they believe about history and their ancestors is nonsense.

Two-hundred years ago, Christians owned more slaves than any other group. Before there were any Black slaves in British-American colonies, there were millions of American Indian slaves, and white slaves. Christians took shiploads of Native Americans to Europe and sold them as slaves.

George Washington did not win the American War of Independence. Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine negotiated an alliance with France, Spain, and The Netherlands. Washington’s frozen army was barely hanging on to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, when the French navy was preventing English ships from bringing reinforcements and needed supplies to the English armies in Virginia. It was The Marquis de Lafayette and his French army who defeated the English at Yorkton, Virginia, in 1781, forcing England to surrender.

Thomas Paine was the true hero of the American Revolution. His books, Common Sense, The Age of Reason and Rights of Man, not only ignited revolutions, but detailed how to form a democratic republic. In Common Sense, the first American best-seller, Paine wrote how appalled he was that “Good Christians” should own slaves. The leaders of the rebellion agreed, once the colonies gained their freedom, there would be no retaliation towards anyone who had sided with England. Treaties with American Indians would be honoured. All slaves and indentured servants would be freed, and every citizen, including peoples of all colours, religions, races and genders, would enjoy personal freedom and equal rights, including the right to vote in elections. The four evils of monarchy: poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, and war would be eliminated. The only excuse for war would be national defense. To Thomas Paine, this was just “Common Sense”.

As a prelude to the anticipated democracy, Paine was successful in having slavery abolished in Pennsylvania. Not knowing he would be double-crossed, after England surrendered, Paine crossed the Atlantic where he took part in the French Revolution. No agreements were sacred to George Washington and his confederates. Just like other imperialistic nations, treaties, formal agreements, constitutions, and bills of rights, would be written, signed, and then ignored.

To the victorious American citizens, it soon became apparent, they had jumped from the frying pan into the fire; there would be no democracy. Whoever controls the military, controls the nation. Washington and his fellow white, rich, landowners proved to be wolves in sheep’s clothing. Washington’s army carried out a witch-hunt, seizing lands and possessions from anyone Washington deemed to be loyal to England. If not killed outright, those accused of treason were forced to flee the country with just the clothes on their backs. Much of the confiscated property became part of Washington’s personal estate, making him the richest man in America.

The new oligarchy dictatorship’s hidden agenda quickly came to light. With guidance from “The Good Book” and authorisation from the “Doctrines of Discovery”, the new government seized land in Indian Territory. Forty-four million acres were given to the Northern Pacific Railway Company with instructions to build a railway to the Pacific Ocean. A million soldiers marched in front of the railroad and settlers followed behind it. In a few short years, the buffalo in the USA were extinct, and American Indians were nearly exterminated after open season had been declared on them.

These oligarchs, drunk on money and power, began looking in all directions to see where their next conquest would be, Mexico, Florida, Cuba, Hawaii, or somewhere further across the ocean? They were determined to build an empire bigger than England ever had.

Paine could clearly understand; slaves could be physically freed but remain slaves until they are mentally freed. If a plough-horse is set free, it will stand around, looking for someone to tell him what to do. When given their freedom, serfs and slaves tend to do the same. They will latch onto kings, powerful leaders like Napoleon Bonaparte, or anyone else in a position of authority, becoming their willing slaves, and worshipping them as gods.

Education is a friend of former slaves. Education gives them an understanding that all people are the same, ALL-ONE. Nobody is superior to anyone else. They must learn, they can take charge of their own lives and plan their own futures. They must come to realise, the enemy is not out-there, the enemy is in themselves. Over two-thousand years ago, Siddhartha Gautama taught this to his disciples.