Common Sense 2.0

[nullvalu]

Who would be interested in helping write a pamphlet entitled "Common Sense 2.0"

I think it's time for another one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Sense_%28pamphlet%29

[Jared]

What a coincidence! I wanted to write one called "A Second Helping of Common Sense" after Thomas Paine's (my hero) original. As for me, though, I'm not too great at political writing.

[nullvalu]

neither am i, it would be a collaborational effort.

[risiusj]

I was just thinking about writing a "Common Sense" pamphlet as well. We could make it a community project or something.

[nullvalu]

If we're gonna do it then lets do it. Could we see if we could create a seperate forum for it?

[mconder]

"It is ridiculous and against natural law for an island to rule a continent."

It's just as ridiculous that one man should rule the nation/world, i.e. The U.S. President.

[Noodles]

I'd be glad to help, and will try not to hinder. Also, Spirit of 76 is the resident wordsmith, so getting him on board would be a big plus. Torchbearer also appears to have turned a phrase or two.

[nullvalu]

if we did this i think it should be as anonymous as the first and handed out across the nation. that said, we dont want another campaign to steal this idea... thoughts?

EDIT: Could we kill the thread, create a new forum and make it invite-only?

EDIT AGAIN: Nevermind, none of the other candidates are interested in the constitution anyways.

[TeeJay]

Setting up a wiki is free and allows effortless collaboration by as many as hundreds of people. It is the ideal collaborative solution for anything printed or any web site.

I have experience with wikis at stikipad.com and pbwiki.com. Both are free and easy to use.

[nullvalu]

It's a good idea, but if we had hundreds of people involved, how would we know when it's complete and ready for print? I'm talking about starting a viral campaign of truth. If it were done anonymously and these things started popping up all over the country it would get huge news. I wouldn't want it to be a Ron Paul promo peice necessarily, just list his views and the ones that we all agree upon. Also, time is of the essence if we'd want it to make a difference in the election/primaries.. We'd have to get something out within a month or two.

[Starks]

Common Sense 2.0 should be written in a manner akin to the original (though certainly not as long)...

[Libertas]

This is crazy (something like "The Secret" going on here). I'm currently writing a very simple book about the monetary system (Canadian and American), Consumer Price Index, and actual inflation and I was going to incorporate "Common Sense" into the title.

Freaky.:eek:

[nullvalu]

No Shit.

[nullvalu]

Common Sense 2.0 should be written in a manner akin to the original (though certainly not as long)...

Great point, in fact I think we should stick to the original as much as possible and just update a few things.. I'm reading it and it has so much relevance it's uncanny.

EDIT: Either that, or reprint the whole thing in it's original state, it'd start debate across the country about how far we've strayed from the constitution.

[kylejack]

I will take a crack at this. Help me brainstorm a little. In 1776, religion was a big issue and Paine used it extensively. What motivates Americans of all political groups now? What angers almost everyone? Corporate lobbying of the government angers most, and integrity motivates most. Throw out some others and I'll take an earnest shot at this. The next step would be printing and webhosting with anonymous registration. Yes, common sense 2 will be distributed in many formats.

[nullvalu]

I will take a crack at this. Help me brainstorm a little. In 1776, religion was a big issue and Paine used it extensively. What motivates Americans of all political groups now? What angers almost everyone? Corporate lobbying of the government angers most, and integrity motivates most. Throw out some others and I'll take an earnest shot at this. The next step would be printing and webhosting with anonymous registration. Yes, common sense 2 will be distributed in many formats.

Wasteful government spending, and if most people knew the truth about the fed, cfr, etc - it would also anger most.

[JaylieWoW]

Funny, I've also been mulling this one around in my head for some time. I thought of "Modern Day Common Sense". I even did a Google search on it and came up with a few interesting things.

Check it out: Google "Modern Day Common Sense" (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22modern+day+common+sense%22&btnG=Google+Search)

There are a few blogs out there, one of the first hits you'll see is a blog from a vet and a question he answered about "taking out Iran".

Sorry I don't have time right now to go into some of the other stuff I found, its bed time... I'll be following this one though. I'd like to contribute!

[LibertyOrDie]

I was playing with this same idea about a month ago! I, personally am an avid book lover. I always prefer a book to a video, but with todays behaviors, the best I could come up with was to take common sense and update the language some and create it in some easy cartoon/animation form as a narrative.

[torchbearer]

The Thomas Paine Division. get out that Pro-Constition literature!

[beermotor]

I've already laid out a brief outline of it. I was going to do this. Would be happy to collaborate. I would ultimately like to get it published at LRC, if that's cool.

I'll post it up and put a link to my doc when I get to work, it's on my laptop.

[nullvalu]

Very cool, I'll send a message to capaign HQ to see if they'd be interested in funding this at all.

[jaybone]

I just read Common Sense again yesterday, and have been thinking we need another Paine to bring the masses into the fold.
I too have been pondering version 2.0, the challenge that Thomas overcame so beautifully is to make it speak to the common man. It's a bit hard to comprehend in parts today, mainly due to language differences, but at the time it was truly 'common'
One way to collaborate on this project would be to draft a mission statement that gives a broad theme, then incorporate essays by individuals into a wiki or blog. Blog visitors could then vote on top essays over a period of time, and perhaps, borne from that a pamphlet for distribution could be published.

This is really a monumental task; the world is so much more complex today and where Paine really had one issue, we have hundreds.
I think the most productive approach would be on a philisophical level, discussing what it means to be free Americans. That is, rather than writing about why socialized medicine conscripts doctors, write about how socialism is nothing more than theft.

I think this is a very worthy pursuit and we really need to keep this dialogue going!

[beermotor]

Very cool, I'll send a message to capaign HQ to see if they'd be interested in funding this at all.



No, don't do that.

Listen, if we want to take this private, I can open up a private section of my d&d forum for us to use. Or else someone can put up a wiki, or whatever.

But let's do this on our own; we don't need "funding" from the campaign. We want to use this to GENERATE funding FOR the campaign! :)

[Paul-O-Holic]

I'm in.

Common Sense Revisited.

[jaybone]

For scope and style:
- Keep it short, simple and in plain language
- Use fiery and inflammatory language as did Thomas
- Strive for broad themes that really cut to the heart of issues, get to the MEAT not the specifics
- Think about who we would like to enlighten, write for them, not us.

I'm just brainstorming here....

If anyone has read "Good to be King" by Mike Badnarik, that is a style that could have broad appeal. It's a short book, easy to understand, has real world examples, etc.
It is my handbook for being a free American.

[beermotor]

Here's my brief outline. The first chunk is mostly an outline of Paine's historical document, while chunk III is more of my thoughts on what the focus of such a section should be for our modern time.

LINK (http://www.undertone.org/~bret/rp)

[beermotor]

http://www.ushistory.org/Paine/commonsense/singlehtml.htm

Link to the original document that I worked from.

[nullvalu]

No, don't do that.

Listen, if we want to take this private, I can open up a private section of my d&d forum for us to use. Or else someone can put up a wiki, or whatever.

But let's do this on our own; we don't need "funding" from the campaign. We want to use this to GENERATE funding FOR the campaign! :)

Ok, I haven't contacted them yet, and I'm on board with your reasoning.. however the issue of funding will come up, this won't be cheap.

[beermotor]

Ok, I haven't contacted them yet, and I'm on board with your reasoning.. however the issue of funding will come up, this won't be cheap.


It took me a second to figure out that you mean to print the thing. I think we can work that out if/when we get that far.

So, can someone collate all the thoughts thus far?

[nullvalu]

It took me a second to figure out that you mean to print the thing. I think we can work that out if/when we get that far.

So, can someone collate all the thoughts thus far?

YHPM

[mesler]

If you guys would like to use my wiki, feel free. The URL is wiki.ronpaulpresshub.com.

If you want a semi-private page that isn't linked on the fron page, just make up a title:
http://wiki.ronpaulpresshub.com/index.php?title=Something
so, you could do:
http://wiki.ronpaulpresshub.com/index.php?title=Common_Sense_2.0
or whatever you like.

[jaybone]

I was thinking, perhaps a preamble titled:
"Crimes Against the American People Perpetrated by the Federal Government of the United States of America"

Charge #1 - Confiscation of individual wealth via monetary inflation as a result of irresponsible excess creation of federal reserve notes by the federal reserve system.

Charge #2 - Confiscation of individual wealth by through the illegal and unconstitutional levying of tax on citizen's labor.

Charge #3 - Sacrificing the lives of Americans in pursuing illegal conflicts that were not officially declared wars by act of Congress as mandated by the US Constitution.

Charge #4 - Abrogation of citizen's unlimited right to contract, through the enaction of stautory law contrary to common law.

Charge #5 - Ignoring calls of citizens for their constitutionally protected right to redress of grievances.

Charge #6 - Unlawful imprisonment of citizens who have not violated common law.

Charge #7 - Manipulation of supposedly free markets for political puropses.

I'm sure I'll have many more to follow,

[torchbearer]

Once you get this manifesto done... we need to nail it to the door of the white house at a press conference. ;)

[jaybone]

I would prefer to hand it to President Ron Paul over coffee.

[beermotor]

Ok - who all here is a "serious writer" and wants to start taking a crack at this?

We need to figure out some sort of way to collaborate online - but I imagine that what we'll end up doing is having 4 or 5 different things, and then we'll mash them all together taking the best from each.

Any ideas?

I really want to be the guy at the end, doing the editing / mashing / melding. I think I am a pretty solid writer, I'm one of the top students at my law school in the writing classes, so I think I could do it justice. But I'm definitely more of an editor, versus a starting out the gate guy.

[beermotor]

I just read Common Sense again yesterday, and have been thinking we need another Paine to bring the masses into the fold.
I too have been pondering version 2.0, the challenge that Thomas overcame so beautifully is to make it speak to the common man. It's a bit hard to comprehend in parts today, mainly due to language differences, but at the time it was truly 'common'
One way to collaborate on this project would be to draft a mission statement that gives a broad theme, then incorporate essays by individuals into a wiki or blog. Blog visitors could then vote on top essays over a period of time, and perhaps, borne from that a pamphlet for distribution could be published.

This is really a monumental task; the world is so much more complex today and where Paine really had one issue, we have hundreds.
I think the most productive approach would be on a philisophical level, discussing what it means to be free Americans. That is, rather than writing about why socialized medicine conscripts doctors, write about how socialism is nothing more than theft.


I think this is a very worthy pursuit and we really need to keep this dialogue going!



I think our Common Sense basically boils down to pretty much the same precepts Paine believed in, self-government and freedom. For us, the critical issues are likely War and Slavery. I mean these very broadly. Essentially they are, at root, economic issues. Everyone, and I mean everyone, understands on a deep level that without some kind of property protection, everything goes out the window, social law and order, etc, gone. So my thought is that we should issue an appeal to the common people to rise up against War and Slavery, in all forms. And then point out the various ways we are enslaved and forced to engage in wars by people for "our own good." We can probably bring a little religion into it, but I don't know how successful that will be, since religion has been really twisted in the past century.

[torchbearer]

I do well at editing.

[torchbearer]

leave religion out of it.

[nullvalu]

Whoever is up for the task..

Has Spirit of '76 weighed in?

[beermotor]

I guess I am going to give it a shot then.

Maybe we can agree to do something by Friday and share what we've got at that time among the group, do a little listserv or something?

[sandersondavis]

I was thinking, perhaps a preamble titled:
"Crimes Against the American People Perpetrated by the Federal Government of the United States of America"

Charge #1 - Confiscation of individual wealth via monetary inflation as a result of irresponsible excess creation of federal reserve notes by the federal reserve system.

Charge #2 - Confiscation of individual wealth by through the illegal and unconstitutional levying of tax on citizen's labor.

Charge #3 - Sacrificing the lives of Americans in pursuing illegal conflicts that were not officially declared wars by act of Congress as mandated by the US Constitution.

Charge #4 - Abrogation of citizen's unlimited right to contract, through the enaction of stautory law contrary to common law.

Charge #5 - Ignoring calls of citizens for their constitutionally protected right to redress of grievances.

Charge #6 - Unlawful imprisonment of citizens who have not violated common law.

Charge #7 - Manipulation of supposedly free markets for political puropses.

I'm sure I'll have many more to follow,

This kind of talk gives me a hard-on, but I am afraid most of my fellow citizens just won't even attempt to read past Charge #1. I would vote for much simpler language and maybe even a comic book format with lots of pretty pictures. V IS FOR VENGENCE ????

What ever you guys come up with, don't rule out the possibility of self publishing. Binding a paperback (or comic book) is a trivial task and would be a perfect activity for meetup groups. Don't forget that a CD/DVD can be inserted in any publication. The publication could have an official website for synergy.

OK my comments are worth less than you paid for them. In any event I fully support your efforts and I will be cheering you on.

Never give up.
Never give up.
Never give up!

PS A comic book could be serialized. Heck they could become collector items. Or give away B/W copies for free and charge for color. Don't you love it? I have no shortage of tasks for others to do.

[beermotor]

I've started working on this. Please take a look at THIS LINK (http://www.undertone.org/~bret/rp) and read the Draft version. It's not completed, it sort of ends without concluding, but I'm at work and need to get some work done.

I'm interested in comments, submissions, etc.

[nullvalu]

I've started working on this. Please take a look at THIS LINK (http://www.undertone.org/~bret/rp) and read the Draft version. It's not completed, it sort of ends without concluding, but I'm at work and need to get some work done.

I'm interested in comments, submissions, etc.

First read, I like it a lot. Especially "the men and women we have entrusted with our security and prosperity have neither at heart." I'll have some more time later and will try to come up with some suggestions.

[Slugg]

By Phillip Mabry
My fellow Americans, we are a country watching our freedoms expire. Uninhibited lust of the few have trampled on the freedoms and labor of the many. We, the masses, have ignored our conscious and plundered our inheritance. Long is the history of deception and painful is the realization of the truth.
The truth, my friends, is as elusive as love but as plain as day. We are not FREE! Our fathers worked to create wealth, yet we work to repay debt. A society has be created in which debt is impossible to avoid. The back breaking work we endure is taxed, devalued, and demanded. Our great grand fathers worked for land, gold, and respect. Today we work for gas, fashion, and greed. We have been deceived.
Our language has been attacked. Words like freedom, responsibility, and individualism have been replaced with words like security, convenience, and popularity. Our generation has created a society of instant gratification, hyper sensitivity and political polarization. No longer do we work with one another for mutual benefit. We fight, argue and expire our energy over unimportant subjects like crabs in a bucket.

We can all agree on only one 'fact.' That 'fact' is the root cause of our blindness. It is the chains on our legs, and the apathy in our blood. We can only agree on one poisonous fact: everything is someone else's fault.

This basic axiom is the divide that prevents us from seeing both the perpetrator of our oppression and the tyranny itself. We are now more divided than we were before the Civil War and we must come together in freedom.

Who then is the instrument of the eradication of our liberties? Why are we given a currency which inhibits our freedoms and enslaves our children? We charge a multitude of politicians and so-called statesmen with the acts below.

Let me be clear, we must choose the side of peace, love and harmony. Only freedom and peace can unite us in the struggle for both freedom and peace. While an enemy exists, we must identify it clearly. Today we charge the infestation of lies, corruption and misinformation in our Federal Government as the instrument of tyranny.

"Crimes Against the American People Perpetrated by Un-American Politicians in the Federal Government of the United States of America"

Charge #1 - Confiscation of individual wealth via monetary inflation while other non-intrusive monetary systems are available.

Charge #2 - Confiscation of individual wealth through the illegal and unconstitutional levying of tax on citizen's labor without proper apportionment.

Charge #3 - Sacrificing the lives of Americans while pursuing illegal conflicts not declared by Congress as mandated by the US Constitution.

Charge #4 - Abrogation of citizen's unlimited right to contract, through the inaction of statutory law contrary to common law.

Charge #5 - Ignoring calls of citizens for their constitutionally protected right to redress of grievances.

Charge #6 - Unlawful imprisonment of citizens who have not violated common law.

Charge #7 - Controlled markets under the guise of freedom.


It still needs work, but it's what I came up with now...I will continue and we can put this thing together.

[nullvalu]

holy crap thats really good too! beermotor, i like your concepts on security and prosperity and a number of other statements but i think slugg's opening paragraph would be easier to understand and accept to most people.. we need to work on merging these two together.. i think they're both great.

[beermotor]

The crabs in a bucket bit is cool imagery.

I'm not completely sold on the enumeration of charges, a la the Declaration of Independence. My eyes tend to glaze over if lists get too long.

I think it's interesting that both of our central themes are the same: freedom from slavery. I'm going to plug away at my thing a little more, and maybe we can get a couple more submissions / ideas and mash them all together.

[Slugg]

The crabs in a bucket bit is cool imagery.

I'm not completely sold on the enumeration of charges, a la the Declaration of Independence. My eyes tend to glaze over if lists get too long.

Yeah, I don't know how I feel about that either. I think if the list was shorter (perhaps four) it could be pulled off....but I do think the idea of a list is solid. It sums up the 'complaints'. I didn't play with the list much besides some slight rewording. I think we can work with it though...I like the concept of a simple "This is our beef" list.


I think it's interesting that both of our central themes are the same: freedom from slavery. I'm going to plug away at my thing a little more, and maybe we can get a couple more submissions / ideas and mash them all together.

Yeah, thats what I was thinking. I read your rough draft and I like it. I didn't want to add to it until I had my own rough draft and we could work together on getting one solid piece. I think we should really focus on the polarization of America..I really do think that is the largest problem for citizens. We get stuck blaming parties and fail to realize they are both at fault.

[ThePieSwindler]

If and when we get a general consensus on this idea, we should organize a march on washington, storm the front of the capitol building, and nail it to the front door, a la Martin Luther.

[nullvalu]

If and when we get a general consensus on this idea, we should organize a march on washington, storm the front of the capitol building, and nail it to the front door, a la Martin Luther.

I do like this idea.

I know a guy who may be able to design the final publication, he's a great graphic artist really knows his stuff when it comes to publications, layout and design.

[torchbearer]

If and when we get a general consensus on this idea, we should organize a march on washington, storm the front of the capitol building, and nail it to the front door, a la Martin Luther.

I'm there with you.

[nullvalu]

We can organize getting these printed and sent to all of us, load up our trunks with them and stop along highways on the way to DC from wherever we're from, placing them in restraunts, stores, etc.. and plan on meeting up down there on a specific day to do the hammering. :)

[ronpaulhawaii]

I've started working on this. Please take a look at THIS LINK (http://www.undertone.org/~bret/rp) and read the Draft version. It's not completed, it sort of ends without concluding, but I'm at work and need to get some work done.

I'm interested in comments, submissions, etc.

Good work! I look forward to seeing this completed.

m

[Nickel]

leave religion out of it.

Really?

I was thinking, if this is going to be tackled properly then the Enlightenment idea that morality isn't governed by Christianity needs to be addressed. Given the past several years of the neo-cons, I don't see how this could be left out. After all, aren't we all talking about going back to the constitution?

My 2 cents (although, I would suggest melting it down, the copper is worth more).

[torchbearer]

the religion part is divisive and unecesary for this manifesto. beyond invoking the name, 'our creator'... you will start to lose people.
it should be our petition to the government.
and all of us together have many different beliefs...even athiest and satanist. we all want to be included and not excluded. that is why religion has no part in this manifesto.

[DAZ]

I just saw this thread and am a little floored at the number of people just on this forum who have had the exact same idea I have. About three weeks ago, I jotted down some notes on "The Return of Common Sense: An American Call to Arms". I haven't worked on it since, but I would be glad to weigh in on this project.

I like what y'all have put forward so far, however, I think we should take a step back and realize who our target audience is. We are trying to get the average American to lift the wool from his eyes and see that change is needed.

To do that effectively, we must always keep in mind the characteristics of the target audience. The average American reads very little, has a short attention span, dislikes "high falutin" language, and has become numb to government abuse, corruption, scandal, and overreaches of power. So basically, we need to come up with a document that is fairly short and concise, written in everyday language, and that will light a fire under their collective asses!!!

I think a separate wiki or site where we could more easily consolidate and collaborate will be essential to this effort. Do y'all want to take up mesler's offer and use that site for our wiki? I vote yes. Hopefully each contributor could have their own writing page that only they can edit but all can read, as well as access to community edited pages once we begin to compile the best parts of each writer's work. I personally have no experience in that area, but I'll be glad to help write.

[torchbearer]

-Daz, work your magic... add your skillz to this project. I just offered myself up to nail this thing to George Bush's forehead.

[beermotor]

I just saw this thread and am a little floored at the number of people just on this forum who have had the exact same idea I have. About three weeks ago, I jotted down some notes on "The Return of Common Sense: An American Call to Arms". I haven't worked on it since, but I would be glad to weigh in on this project.

I like what y'all have put forward so far, however, I think we should take a step back and realize who our target audience is. We are trying to get the average American to lift the wool from his eyes and see that change is needed.

To do that effectively, we must always keep in mind the characteristics of the target audience. The average American reads very little, has a short attention span, dislikes "high falutin" language, and has become numb to government abuse, corruption, scandal, and overreaches of power. So basically, we need to come up with a document that is fairly short and concise, written in everyday language, and that will light a fire under their collective asses!!!

I think a separate wiki or site where we could more easily consolidate and collaborate will be essential to this effort. Do y'all want to take up mesler's offer and use that site for our wiki? I vote yes. Hopefully each contributor could have their own writing page that only they can edit but all can read, as well as access to community edited pages once we begin to compile the best parts of each writer's work. I personally have no experience in that area, but I'll be glad to help write.


PM me what you've got, I'd like to see it man.

You know, I think I'd rather we kind of work individually and then combine it, rather than do it wikistyle. I think this will lend itself to better products in the end.

[nullvalu]

I like the list.. I think we should keep it in some fasion.. I'm not convinced yet either way regarding religion.

[DAZ]

PM me what you've got, I'd like to see it man.

You know, I think I'd rather we kind of work individually and then combine it, rather than do it wikistyle. I think this will lend itself to better products in the end.

Like I said, It's just some scattered notes on several different topics. I haven't yet tried to put it together into marketable form. I've been busy all day today, but I think I can work on it some this afternoon and definitely tomorrow.

As soon as I have more of a real draft, y'all will be the first to see it.

[nullvalu]

*BUMP*

Hows it coming guys? any progress? :)

[Thatguyuknow]

Wow. What a coincidence, I was just writing this. (before you posted this thread) I'm making it a research project of mine, and I'm analyzing things from a philosophical, social, and economic perspective. I wanted to start as Thomas Paine did with a philosophical look at the world. We need to make the writing archaic and emotional, to copy the tone of Paine. Here's what I've been brainstorming.
First we describe the origins of peoples beliefs and why they hold unto them despite contradictionary or egregious realisms. How and why they ultimately change their beliefs, why some beliefs should stand as universal truths. (liberty and freedom) How hostility develops, cynicisms and paranoia. Ultimately this will go to the middle East.. but for now this is what I've gotten philosophically,

"On the conceptual analysis and origins of beliefs.
Men are vessels of words. Men and words are by destiny intertwined as they have nothing else to relate the environment to themselves. This necessitates dependence, and by virtue of reason one can decipher the imperfection that arises. For it pits man docile to the physical laws bestowed to him and by science and analysis of these physical laws one can find that logic and absolute truth does not even exist innately within them but that the only constants that can be derived are the consistent interactions between particles and forces. F truly will always equal M * A but mass itself holds no intrinsic value, that if removed from interaction of other things, wholly from the universe itself, so that it no longer interacts with physical laws, that its atoms cease to move and interact with one another, it will cease to exist in time. I digress heavily so the envious reader observes, I assure you I do not.

Thus by the definition of reality we can foresee that no one can truly be sure of anything wholly, but then the question follows as to how in a quantum world of disorder a certain correspondence principle develops in which predictability can ensue. This occurs due to a tendency for interactions to cause certain reactions made constant by underlying unyielding invisible laws that prevents actions beyond a certain unidentifiable limit. This is proved by observation that all parts of the observable universe has evolved similar to the section of the universe that we reside in. Something not possible if an anarchy of laws developed. This is the system we and our ancestors have developed from and are thus bound to these underlying principles. "

This is the introduction, keep in mind that the tools of political writing are stern emotional statements that go beyond the layman into philosophy. I want to include strong what I dub "One liners" that tend to be very effective. I was thinking things like,

"To subdue man, one must already be subdued."

"Pre-emptive war's logic is that of a schizophrenics with no limit in site of madness created nor resolved"

[nullvalu]

Should we try to revive this? I think there's probably been 10 or more people who have kind of started writing something.. what we need to do is combine our efforts.. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to do this?