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- “The cause of America is in great measure the cause of all
mankind”- Thomas Paine
- by Jesse Lee and Rob Kall
- OpEdNews.com
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- At a time when the Tyrannical King George, with his corporate
cronies, were abusing the American Colonists, Thomas Paine introduced
a simple pamphlet, “COMMON SENSE,” that broached ideas that swept
through the colonies, energizing, inspiring and activating the people.
Paine’s COMMON SENSE played a major role in educating and
politicizing the people of colonial America so they were ready to
fight back and take America from the British.
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- The newsletter that we at Opednews.com are initiating and inviting
you to take part in borrows both its name and purpose from Paine’s
seminal work, “Common Sense”.
It is conceived of as the next step in alternative media, the
step that will take us across the ideological chasm which this
administration has deliberately gutted in our nation’s media
landscape, where all the major news organizations have been beaten
down, intimidated by fear of loss of access.
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- Like the Phoenix that rises from the ashes, our new COMMON SENSE
will rise to educate the 70 percent of the population who still
believe that there’s some proof that Saddam or Iraq were connected
to 9-11.
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- The ideals
of this newsletter are the same as those espoused in Paine’s work,
namely that “The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren,
and to do good is my religion”.
But no less important here is his technique of pamphleteering,
in order to put hard, accessible knowledge in the hands of the
citizenry, who alone have the power to seize back the government for
themselves.
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- In this
vein, Common Sense is offered on the web, via website and
email, in a printable, columned newsletter format, meant to be freely
photocopied and distributed widely, sowing the seeds of dissent where
the Republican elite have attempted to salt the land.
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- As valuable
as the alternative news community online has been, it is an
unavoidable fact that we have hit a wall in terms of “preaching to
the choir”. Those who
need the information most are lacking the internet access, savvy, or
curiosity and initiative necessary to search out the truth for
themselves. This newsletter will put the truth in plain sight, in an
easily accessible format, posted on bulletin boards, left out for
people to pick up at coffee shops, grocery stores, libraries,
convenience stores, and it is up to YOU to get it out there.
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- Those who expect to reap
the blessings of freedom must... undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
Thomas Paine
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- This project was inspired by a reader who felt compelled to
reach out to his fellow citizens. He wrote us the following:
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- ‘At my own expense, I put
out an alternative monthly newspaper in Oshkosh called "A Second
Opinion"… All 75 copies that I put in the public library are
gone each month. I put another 25 copies in a local coffeehouse
and in the student union at UWO. A friend of mine has told me
that his friends in a south-side (blue-collar side of town) Lutheran
church choir consider "A Second Opinion" to be next to the
Bible for information! He Xeroxes copies for them every month
and brings them to choir practice! People have begun emailing me
asking for copies to be sent to them directly as an attachment…Bush
is going to find out that he can only live a lie so long.’
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- Is there any reason that this should not happen in every community
across the country? There are people primed and ready for honest news
that has not been “foxed up.” We especially need to get this news
into the Midwestern and southern “red” states.
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- The first edition of Common Sense was sent to a list of
approximately 50 individuals across the country.
With each of them printing and distributing 100 copies or more,
that is already a circulation of 5000 in those communities which have
systematically squashed dissenting facts and opinions.
Imagine if there were a member of the alternative news
community distributing 100 copies in every “Bush-country” town
across the nation. Imagine
the ripples being sent through every hard working town in America as
one reader of the newsletter asks a friend, “Have you heard Bush is
trying to eliminate overtime pay?”
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- The new COMMON SENSE aims to transform the relationship between
alternative news sites and their readers, many of whom we have come to
know would like to do more. By enabling each reader, each website
publisher to become a pamphleteer, we are empowering them all to have
an opportunity to give the un-Foxified truth new light.
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- We are well aware that those influenced by Bush will not take our
offering if our swords are drawn, and the newsletter is designed to be
potent but not strident in tone, so we avoid giving a hostile or
uncommitted audience any excuse to dismiss it.
If you are a reader who would like to receive and distribute Common Sense contact us at commonsense@opednews.com
and sign up for the distribution list. It will arrive in your inbox as
a Word and pdf file and you will simply have to print out or photocopy
100 copies -or 10, or five, and drop them off at your
convenience, or just one post them on a bulletin board. Every action
can make a difference.If you operate a site and would like to help
distribute or contribute to Common
Sense, email us at commonsense@opednews.com
or go to www.opednews.com/commonsense111.htm
where you'll find archives of the most recent and past issues.
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- The corporate elitists who have in many ways dominated American
politics since its founding have finally overstretched and awakened
the sleeping giant of American populism. We cannot let this
opportunity pass. The
beginning of this movement will be the unseating of our current
profiteers extraordinaire, the end will be an America that practices
what it preaches for generations to come.
Some practical tips on "publishing" and distributing
Commonsense:
ADVICE ON PRINTING AND DISTRIBUTION
***As you'll see, this is a two-page document, meant to be front and
back of one page. This can actually be trickier than one would think if
one does not have a two-sided printer or copier available. We
recommend printing out 100 copies of the first page, and then taking
that same stack of paper and printing out 100 copies of the second page on
the back. If you haven't done this before, you should experiment with one
page first to make sure you're putting the paper in the printer the right
way (most printers have a diagram of a folded page to show you how it
prints).
***As mentioned before, recommended distribution locations would
be the local library, college campus, health food store, grocery,
convenience store, restaurant or cafe, but obviously it's up to your
judgment.
***Also, originally the title of the newsletter was in a
different font (diploma) in the Word version, but it was changed back to
Times New Roman when we realized not everybody has the same fonts. If you
want to play with the font, please feel free.
***Good luck, and don't be discouraged if you get some negative
reactions, take it as a sign of how much this really is needed.
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