Thomas Paine: A Punk Rocker in Knickers

Author of Common Sense, an 18th Century equivalent of a blog piece urging the colonials to war with the British government, Thomas Paine was punk rock. Oh, before I go too far, I hope you all know by now that I'm no war-hawk, nor am I one of those silly Americans that still feels like we have to crap all over our British friends. I actually think the lovely Brits are miles (kilometers) ahead of us in so many social issues.

Does it sound strange that a dude with knickers and those crazy continental loafers with the buckles-you know the ones the pilgrims would wear-would be punk rock? For those of you who paid attention in history class, this may be a refresher course, for those of you that didn't, this might just blow your mind. We all know that The United States won its independence from Great Britain in the late eighteenth century, yes? Good. Now, what's often forgotten is how hard we had to struggle to do so. And what's forgotten even more is that not everyone wanted to leave the protection of our then Big Brother.

But men like Thomas Paine took it upon themselves to spark the fighting spirit in as many men as they could. But that alone that doesn't quite make him punk rock. What makes him punk rock are three things.

1. Thomas Paine was a brilliant writer who flunked out of school at age 12. And still he managed to shape the world, punk rock.

2. In a time when it was completely uncool to do so, he openly spoke out against slavery and the hypocrisy of the church. And he wrote papers in favor a world peace organization (U.N. type stuff) and a social security type plan for the elderly and retired.

3. Because he was so outspoken about the church, he was spurned by many and very few people actually attended his funeral. But the idea of mass acceptance never concerned him.

Thomas Paine was punk rock. He told it like it was and incurred the wrath of many people. So much so that he ended up dying virtually alone. Did that stop him? No, it didn't. He said what he wanted to say. He knew he had a message, and he put it out there. That's my kind of guy.