I have to confess I was nervous about reading Common Sense. I am a fan of Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason . Frankly I was worried that Paine might discredit my current political beliefs. Instead, I found that Paine’s Common Sense is more complex than right and wrong or left and right.

In 1776, Thomas Paine said, “a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right…” Paine said this to argue against hereditary rule by kings, especially kings claiming divine approval. Government, as Paine describes it, is “a necessary evil”. Devotees of the Tea Party movement will likely feel vindication in that assertion from a leading voice of the American Revolution. So it is a good thing Thomas Paine’s argument proves more nuanced.

Granted, I found some of Paine’s arguments dismaying. In particular, he fosters Anglo-Saxon/Christian entitlement in his effort to popularize revolutionary fervor. Among other things, he says, “The reformation was preceded by the discovery of America, as if the Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary…” Those who believe--in outright error--that we were founded as a Christian nation may take that statement for more than it is worth.

Thomas Paine also cites Christianity as an enabler of tyrannical government and civil war in Europe. "The Heathens paid divine honors to their deceased kings, and the christian world hath improved on the plan by doing the same to their living ones." Paine is also not a strict fiscal conservative. He speaks of national debt as acceptable and even useful. “The debt we may contract doth not deserve our regard if the work be but accomplished. No nation ought to be without a debt.”

Paine, like other Founding Fathers, proves more nuanced and fascinating than many people today give him credit for. Being non-denominational myself, I was turned off by how much he utilized Biblical/Christian references. It’s not that Paine should have abstained from appeals to Christian society. Doing so demonstrated political savvy. He gave Christian society—as opposed to the religion itself—due respect for the integral role it played in the richness of 18th Century culture. Still, I am worried contemporary readers may read such passages and mistakenly assume we were founded as a Christian nation. We weren’t. In any case, Paine’s approach is ultimately secular:

“Kings are not taken away by miracles, neither are changes in governments brought about by any other means than such as are common and human; and such as we are now using.”

Anyone who claims to love the principles and documents on which our nation was founded ought to read Thomas Paine. His arguments played a key role in prodding the colonies toward independence. Personally, he reminds me that Americans are at our best when we cultivate a self-reliant society while pragmatically utilizing government. I highly recommend Thomas Paine’s Common Sense.