Thomas Paine EXACTLY described Trump 244 years ago.

[AZ8theist]

The insight of Americas forefathers never ceases to amaze me. (despite their faults):

“Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions.”
― Thomas Paine, Common Sense

"When they succeed to the government are frequently the most IGNORANT and UNFIT of any...."

I couldn't have expressed it better myself.

[BComplex]

1. Best post on DU in the past 3.75 years!!! This should go viral!

Good job!!

[AZ8theist]

2. Wow! Thanks!!

I will donate my prize money to Biden/Harris...

[cayugafalls]

3. Common Sense is a must read.

Thomas Paine was a true thinker and revolutionary.

His writings were very important at that time and should be just as important today.

[malaise]

4. Agree

K & R for truth

[Solomon]

38. One of my favorite books.

[Docreed2003]

5. K&R

[empedocles]

6. Bullseye!

[empedocles]

7. The trump type does not seem to have 'evolved' at all

[StClone]

12. A lot of our problems stem from Trump Types.

[warmfeet]

8. That's very nice.

How do we get rid of him?

[paleotn]

17. A modest proposal....

[Baked Potato]

28. Awesome cigar cutter!

[shelshaw]

32. Kathy Griffin is that you???

[paleotn]

36. Meets the crimes, no?

[warmfeet]

37. Proposal accepted.

[bucolic_frolic]

9. Learned men of the age studied thousands of years of history

There was no golf, sports, motorcars, movies. There was nothing to do but drink, read, discuss. It's a testament to them, and to the recurring patterns of human organization in history, though different ages use different terminology to describe similar phenomena.

[yonder]

13. You hit the nail on the head, IMO -- and why we're lost today.

There are too many easily accessed pleasures that require little to no thinking OR discussion.

We're trapped in a modern maze of our own ill-thought construction while the pathway to freedom, though there, becomes increasingly difficult to discover.

[bucolic_frolic]

22. It was underway with movies, but liftoff was the calculator

For me anyway. I remember learning to use a slide rule. You really had to think. Suddenly, calculators were there. You don't even have to know how to add anything nowadays. Just push buttons.

[AZ8theist]

30. I first learned advanced math on a slide rule..

The engineers who sent men the the moon used slide rules.
You are correct. It's all push button now.

Never ceases to amaze me that at places like McDonalds, in some areas, the cash register has PICTURES of menu items, not numbers.
The dumbing down of America is a Reich Wing feature of policy, not a bug. Keep the rubes stupid, and you can rape the treasury.

[scarletwoman]

16. Well said!

[fwvinson]

27. I just moved to a new home. The first few nights we had electricity and water, but no television, no

internet, no phone service. We moved to a very beautiful and rural area. We did talk and laughed more those 4 nights than anytime. I guess camping is the same. It was real pleasant.

[lunasun]

10. ++ Common Sense , Paine . Thank you for a little bit of it tonight !

[bringthePaine]

11. thanks for this - my favorite revolutionary & founder

[Scruffy1]

14. K&R.

I'm going to memorize it tomorrow. Thx.

[paleotn]

15. Old Tom is spot on again....

I have few heroes. He's one of them.

[mitch96]

18. "When they succeed to the government are frequently the most IGNORANT and UNFIT of any...."

It's like deja vu all over again!!
m

[wendyb-NC]

19. I like what he was thinking all those years ago.

He was right on target, describing the entity that occupies the oval office. His words are timeless and so applicable to the current situation.

[dameatball]

20. Never truer than now. Great post.

[erpowers]

21. Written From Experience

I assume that was written based on his experience living in the time of King George III.

[oasis]

23. If Elizabeth Warren or HRC were to read that tonight. Monster Buzz. nt

[Tommymac]

24. Read my footer. n/t

[czarjak]

25. Hence, Pence...

Believe me!

[GeorgiaPeanut]

26. Great find. Thank you.

[crickets]

29. Agreed! Kicking it back up to the top. nt

eta- great name, GeorgiaPeanut.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

31. I'd be wary of electing a business person again.

Trump is among the absolute worst, of course, because he's not even intelligent or educated.

Yet many of them are basically tyrants because it's not like they're voted into power or can be voted out. I mean, by the "common people" working under them.

And after living that way for years, they can get accustomed to it.

[MFGsunny]

33. Bookmarking MUST for me. Much obliged for your post, AZ8theist!

[AZ8theist]

34. You are MOST Welcome!!

[struggle4progress]

35. He remains one of the masters of English political rhetoric:

England, since the conquest, hath known some few good monarchs, but groaned beneath a much larger number of bad ones; yet no man in his senses can say that their claim under William the Conqueror is a very honourable one. A French bastard landing with an armed banditti, and establishing himself king of England against the consent of the natives, is in plain terms a very paltry rascally original. It certainly hath no divinity in it. However, it is needless to spend much time in exposing the folly of hereditary right; if there are any so weak as to believe it, let them promiscuously worship the ass and lion, and welcome. I shall neither copy their humility, nor disturb their devotion.

[cayugafalls]

39. Common Sense, for those who want to read it.

Available at Project Gutenberg. They have different versions, even kindle.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/147