Comments on: Barack Obama and Thomas Paine http://www.ustvmedia.org/the-american-revolution-is-it-over/2009/02/05/barack-obama-and-thomas-paine/ Sat, 31 Jul 2010 20:54:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0 by: Mark Wilensky http://www.ustvmedia.org/the-american-revolution-is-it-over/2009/02/05/barack-obama-and-thomas-paine/#comment-35245 Sat, 07 Feb 2009 02:33:46 +0000 http://www.ustvmedia.org/the-american-revolution-is-it-over/2009/02/05/barack-obama-and-thomas-paine/#comment-35245 It was disappointing that President Obama did not credit Paine with that quote. I'm a fifth-grade teacher in Colorado, and an intrical part of teaching civics is providing students with our primary sources: the founding documents. This is critical in understanding what “We the People” really means. Today, as they did over 230 years ago, those documents instill in students the belief that all our voices are important. Everyone of our citizens are given the right to pursue liberty. Futures do not have to be inevitable and "Little voices" can make dramatic impacts on events. That is Thomas Paine's greatest contribution to our country. His pamphlet, Common Sense, spoke to all the voices in the 13 colonies during a time of great fear and indecision. He gave a vast number of citizens a vision of what each could do, 176 days before the Declaration of Independence. A belief that power should radiate from the citizens. That message is still paramount to all our students today. For that pamphlet alone, Paine needs to be recognized as a intrical part of the American miracle. Mark Wilensky, author of "The Elementary Common Sense of Thomas Paine: An Interactive Adaptation for All Ages" It was disappointing that President Obama did not credit Paine with that quote. I’m a fifth-grade teacher in Colorado, and an intrical part of teaching civics is providing students with our primary sources: the founding documents. This is critical in understanding what “We the People” really means. Today, as they did over 230 years ago, those documents instill in students the belief that all our voices are important. Everyone of our citizens are given the right to pursue liberty. Futures do not have to be inevitable and “Little voices” can make dramatic impacts on events. That is Thomas Paine’s greatest contribution to our country. His pamphlet, Common Sense, spoke to all the voices in the 13 colonies during a time of great fear and indecision. He gave a vast number of citizens a vision of what each could do, 176 days before the Declaration of Independence. A belief that power should radiate from the citizens. That message is still paramount to all our students today. For that pamphlet alone, Paine needs to be recognized as a intrical part of the American miracle.

Mark Wilensky,
author of “The Elementary Common Sense of Thomas Paine: An Interactive Adaptation for All Ages”

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