Editorial Review:

Product Description:
"If you believe it's time to put principles above parties, character above campaign promises, and Common Sense above all -- then I ask you to read this book...."

In any era, great Americans inspire us to reach our full potential. They know with conviction what they believe within themselves. They understand that all actions have consequences. And they find commonsense solutions to the nation's problems.

One such American, Thomas Paine, was an ordinary man who changed the course of history by penning Common Sense, the concise 1776 masterpiece in which, through extraordinarily straightforward and indisputable arguments, he encouraged his fellow citizens to take control of America's future -- and, ultimately, her freedom.

Nearly two and a half centuries later, those very freedoms once again hang in the balance. And now, Glenn Beck revisits Paine's powerful treatise with one purpose: to galvanize Americans to see past government's easy solutions, two-part monopoly, and illogical methods and take back our great country.

I like to think of myself as an independent thinker. This book does a great job of breaking down some pretty big problems with government and society. If you are a parent or younger than 40, I finished the book with a bit of different perspective. I actually am not a fan of Mr. Beck, never seen his show. However he does seem to make some very valid points, especially about the economic troubles facing our nation. So, it's a fast read and if you are open minded, it's interesting and does make common sense.

Average Rating:

Rating: - Not really a fan, nor a hater.. but the book makes common sense
I like to think of myself as an independent thinker. This book does a great job of breaking down some pretty big problems with government and society. If you are a parent or younger than 40, I finished the book with a bit of different perspective. I actually am not a fan of Mr. Beck, never seen his show. However he does seem to make some very valid points, especially about the economic troubles facing our nation. So, it's a fast read and if you are open minded, it's interesting and does make common sense.

Rating: - Uncommon Sense
The title says it all. The first half is written by the author with the second half written by Thomas Payne. We have heard that common sense isn't so common and this book outlines why. Straight and to the point Glenn points to all the ways we went wrong and what we need to do to fix it.

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Rating: - Sorry, Mr Beck, you can't have Tom Paine
Glenn Beck is at the forefront of the Republican purity purge. He's constantly denouncing this or that GOP politician for deviations from his ideological line. Recently, he extended this into the past, attacking Teddy Roosevelt as a RINO because he once made an inoccuous comment about being in favor of wealth as long as it was acquired by means that weren't socially destructive (apparently Beck is in favor of socially destructive behaviour as long as it produces wealth for someone).

And yet, he's done the reverse here: he's tried to claim an icon of the Left as being on HIS side. Tom Paine, whose objection to onerous taxes was a) that the burden fell too heavily on the poor (so he proposed hiking taxes on the rich, including a top land tax of 100%) and b) that it was spent on court placeholders and the war machine instead of being used to help the unfortunate ("defense", meaning offense, is the one area Beck WOULDN'T cut if he were in power). Paine practically _invented_ the redistributive purpose which is precisely what Beck and his ilk hate so much about tax.

The Beckbots lap this stuff up. They've never read any Tom Paine: they've been told about Common Sense by someone who didn't understand it, and they don't know that he wrote anything else. Even the First Part of The Rights of Man would probably be too egalitarian for them; if they ever read Part Two (OMG socialism!), or The Age of Reason (ZOMG atheism!), let alone Agrarian Justice (OMFG communism!), their heads would explode. One might think that, once Mr Beck had told them the name, they'd at least look it up on Wikipedia. Do they have no curiosity at all? Are they actively afraid of learning anything?

The Right can't have Thomas Paine, Mr Beck. You might as well try to claim Karl Marx.

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Rating: - Best Book I've read in years!
I have not read this eye-opening type of book in years. It is to the point, and nothing left out!

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Rating: - Good book to start a fire with
Hated it. Beck alienated me in the introduction but I pushed on and forced myself to finish it. Here's my problem: please people if you truly want to understand Thomas Paine then read Thomas Paine. Primary sources are a much better way to get what a person is saying. Secondary sources are someone telling you what someone else thinks-occasionally helpful but always subjective. Also everyone knows that complaining and ranting get old without offers of solutions. I hope people take him for the comedic media person he is and not a true journalist or writer in any sense of the word.

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