#alexandercockburn — Public Fediverse posts

CounterPunch.org | The Global Revolution of Thomas Paine by Jeffrey St. Clair

AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information.

The article “The Global Revolution of Thomas Paine – ‘To Begin the World Over Again’” by Jeffrey St. Clair (July 5, 2026) examines Paine’s enduring revolutionary vision, highlighting his imagined society in which poverty, ignorance, imprisonment, begging, oppressive taxes and want are eradicated and reason reigns. Using a 1791 satirical engraving of Paine as a backdrop, the piece explores how his ideas about liberty, equality and rational governance continue to inspire contemporary movements and debates, arguing that Paine’s call for a world rebuilt on these principles remains relevant today.

Read more: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/05/the-global-revolution-of-thomas-paine/

#ThomasPaine #AlexanderCockburn #CounterPunch #featurearticles #JeffreyStClair

CounterPunch.org | The Global Revolution of Thomas Paine by Jeffrey St. Clair

AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information.

The article “The Global Revolution of Thomas Paine – ‘To Begin the World Over Again’” by Jeffrey St. Clair (July 5, 2026) examines Paine’s enduring revolutionary vision, highlighting his imagined society in which poverty, ignorance, imprisonment, begging, oppressive taxes and want are eradicated and reason reigns. Using a 1791 satirical engraving of Paine as a backdrop, the piece explores how his ideas about liberty, equality and rational governance continue to inspire contemporary movements and debates, arguing that Paine’s call for a world rebuilt on these principles remains relevant today.

Read more: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/05/the-global-revolution-of-thomas-paine/

#ThomasPaine #AlexanderCockburn #CounterPunch #featurearticles #JeffreyStClair

.> I don’t mean to equate a Vietnamese villager to Vaclav Havel. For one thing, I doubt that the former would have had the supreme hypocrisy and audacity to clothe his praise for the defenders of freedom with gushing about responsibility for the human race. It’s also unnecessary to point out to the half a dozen or so sane people who remain that in comparison to the conditions imposed by US tyranny and violence, East Europe under Russian rule was practically a paradise. Furthermore, one can easily understand why an oppressed Third World victim would have little access to any information (or would care little about anything) beyond the narrow struggle for survival against a terrorist superpower and its clients. And the Pravda hack, unlike his US clones, would have faced a harsh response if he told the obvious truths. So by every conceivable standard, the performance of Havel, Congress, the media, and (we may safely predict, without what will soon appear) the Western intellectual community at large are on a moral and intellectual level that is vastly below that of Third World peasants and Stalinist hacks — not an unusual discovery.

.> I don’t mean to equate a Vietnamese villager to Vaclav Havel. For one thing, I doubt that the former would have had the supreme hypocrisy and audacity to clothe his praise for the defenders of freedom with gushing about responsibility for the human race. It’s also unnecessary to point out to the half a dozen or so sane people who remain that in comparison to the conditions imposed by US tyranny and violence, East Europe under Russian rule was practically a paradise. Furthermore, one can easily understand why an oppressed Third World victim would have little access to any information (or would care little about anything) beyond the narrow struggle for survival against a terrorist superpower and its clients. And the Pravda hack, unlike his US clones, would have faced a harsh response if he told the obvious truths. So by every conceivable standard, the performance of Havel, Congress, the media, and (we may safely predict, without what will soon appear) the Western intellectual community at large are on a moral and intellectual level that is vastly below that of Third World peasants and Stalinist hacks — not an unusual discovery.

.> I don’t mean to equate a Vietnamese villager to Vaclav Havel. For one thing, I doubt that the former would have had the supreme hypocrisy and audacity to clothe his praise for the defenders of freedom with gushing about responsibility for the human race. It’s also unnecessary to point out to the half a dozen or so sane people who remain that in comparison to the conditions imposed by US tyranny and violence, East Europe under Russian rule was practically a paradise. Furthermore, one can easily understand why an oppressed Third World victim would have little access to any information (or would care little about anything) beyond the narrow struggle for survival against a terrorist superpower and its clients. And the Pravda hack, unlike his US clones, would have faced a harsh response if he told the obvious truths. So by every conceivable standard, the performance of Havel, Congress, the media, and (we may safely predict, without what will soon appear) the Western intellectual community at large are on a moral and intellectual level that is vastly below that of Third World peasants and Stalinist hacks — not an unusual discovery.

.> I don’t mean to equate a Vietnamese villager to Vaclav Havel. For one thing, I doubt that the former would have had the supreme hypocrisy and audacity to clothe his praise for the defenders of freedom with gushing about responsibility for the human race. It’s also unnecessary to point out to the half a dozen or so sane people who remain that in comparison to the conditions imposed by US tyranny and violence, East Europe under Russian rule was practically a paradise. Furthermore, one can easily understand why an oppressed Third World victim would have little access to any information (or would care little about anything) beyond the narrow struggle for survival against a terrorist superpower and its clients. And the Pravda hack, unlike his US clones, would have faced a harsh response if he told the obvious truths. So by every conceivable standard, the performance of Havel, Congress, the media, and (we may safely predict, without what will soon appear) the Western intellectual community at large are on a moral and intellectual level that is vastly below that of Third World peasants and Stalinist hacks — not an unusual discovery.