Bitcoin changed the world the moment it emerged. The idea of decentralized money, transparency in transactions, and breaking away from the traditional monetary system was revolutionary. For many, it was completely new, an idea that challenged everything they thought they knew about finance and control.
Call it a bull shit, call it world changing… either way, you can’t deny its impact.
For me, Bitcoin has always been a fascinating and beautiful thing. As someone who values independence, appreciates the enduring nature of gold, and seeks to operate outside the system as much as possible, it represents something more than just technology. It’s a challenge to the very idea of centralized authority.
And that’s why it reminds me of Thomas Paine.
Paine wasn’t just a revolutionary figure; he was the embodiment of decentralization before it had a name. Before he existed, most people believed freedom was something granted by rulers, that authority was not only necessary but inevitable. Philosophers like Voltaire and Locke began to challenge these ideas, but it was Paine who sparked a revolution, one that redefined what it meant to be free.
Like Bitcoin, Paine was up against a world resistant to change. And yet, his ideas reshaped history.
As John Adams famously said, “Yet history is to ascribe the American Revolution to Thomas Paine.” Paine wasn’t just a man with bold ideas, he was a force, a writer who transformed uncertainty into conviction and hesitation into action. Born into modest circumstances, he rose to challenge the foundations of power itself.
Paine’s story begins here. Let’s explore how his words and ideas broke through a world bound by tradition, inspiring a movement that forever changed what people believed was possible.
Born into a family of tradesmen, Paine was expected to become a tailor like his father. Instead, he reshaped history. Reflecting on his role in the American and French revolutions, he wrote:
“A share in two revolutions is living to some purpose.”
Paine wasn’t just part of history; he made it. And yet, his revolutionary clarity stood in stark contrast to the hesitation of his peers.
Before Paine: The Reluctance of the Revolutionaries
Samuel Adams was one of the few early voices for independence, but his ideas didn’t resonate widely.
Even George Washington, often celebrated for his leadership, initially hesitated to embrace rebellion. On January 31, 1776, Washington wrote:
“If you ever hear of my joining in any such measures, you have my leave to set me down for everything wicked.”
Thomas Jefferson, too, was far from the revolutionary figure we imagine today. In a 1775 letter, he confessed:
“There is not in the British Empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain than I do...”
John Adams, for all his contributions, dismissed the notion of independence as premature. In 1775, he described it as:
“A hobgoblin, of so frightful [a nature] that it would throw a delicate person into fits to look it in the face.”
At the time, most colonists didn’t want independence, they wanted the king to treat them better. They sought reforms, not revolution.
Then came Paine.
Paine’s Clarity: Revolution, Not Reform
When Paine published Common Sense in January 1776, it didn’t merely suggest independence, it demanded it. Paine called out the absurdity of monarchy with piercing logic:
“If we inquire into the business of a king, we shall find that they have none.”
He dismantled the institution of hereditary rule with cutting clarity:
“Nature disapproves [of hereditary kings], otherwise, she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion.”
To Paine, rulers didn’t protect people, they controlled them. Rights, he argued, were not granted by governments or kings.
They were inherent, belonging to all people equally. This was more than a critique; it was a rallying cry.
Paine forced his contemporaries to ask the uncomfortable question: Why should anyone rule over anyone else?
The Power of Paine’s Words
Common Sense wasn’t just a pamphlet, it was a movement. It spread like wildfire. Within months, over 150,000 copies were in circulation. Even George Washington, once reluctant to support independence, was moved. He wrote:
“Common Sense is working a powerful change in the minds of many men.”
This wasn’t just a moment in history, it was a shift in how people thought about power and authority.
Paine wasn’t seeking fame. He published anonymously, writing in the third edition of Common Sense:
“Who the Author of this Production is, is wholly unnecessary... the object for attention is the doctrine itself, not the man.”
His goal wasn’t to build a legacy for himself—it was to plant the seeds of revolution.
Revolutionary Lessons for Today
Thomas Paine’s words remind us that the systems we take for granted, monarchies, governments, hierarchies… are not eternal. They are choices. Paine saw through the illusion that rulers were necessary for stability, exposing how they often create problems to justify their existence.
He understood that true change doesn’t come from tweaking the old ways—it comes from questioning them entirely. Paine didn’t write for the elite; he wrote for the people, and his message resonated across classes and colonies.
As Harvey J. Kaye, a historian, put it:
“Whether it changed people’s minds or freed them to speak their minds, it pushed them... to revolution.”
Paine didn’t just imagine a new world. He gave others the courage to believe it could exist.
So, as we reflect on his life and legacy, let’s remember that history wasn’t shaped by people who accepted the status quo, it was shaped by those, like Paine, who dared to challenge it.
Beautiful!
Wow! Impressive, and thanks 🙏!