Fellow Citizens,

I keep thinking of what Thomas Paine would do in response to revelations that the Bush Administration once again has authorized itself to disregard the U.S. Constitution. And I recall how, when issuing his revolutionary call for independence and the making of a democratic republic, Paine pre-empted those who would have proposed the creation of a monarchy in America by declaring:

"But where says some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it is".

Common Sense (January 1776)

Happy Holidays, Harvey Kaye

author, Thomas Paine and the Promise of America (FSG 2005)

Harvey J. Kaye

Ben & Joyce Rosenberg Professor of Social Change and Development University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Green Bay, Wisconsin 54311 USA