Common Sense II

Twenty-four decades ago Thomas Paine's Common Sense proposed a bold solution to colonists struggling with an uneasy relation with Great Britain: independence, and he offered simple arguments and clear thinking. Today the United States faces the dangers of violence and terrorism and political dysfunction which seems to defy solution. Common Sense II is a nonpartisan reassessment by an independent thinker. The author argues that terrorism is too big of a problem for police and government and the military to handle, but that it is a problem for citizens, and he argues that the relation of citizenship itself must be restored to require active participation at the local level. He recasts terrorism as violence against individual rights, an expanded problem with three possible violators: our own government, foreign terrorists, and criminals. An argument is made that all three types must be prevented since measures to fight or prevent only one type can aggravate the other two types. While he discusses basic methods for fighting terrorism, he argues that prevention is key. The principle behind a prevention strategy is what he terms 'light' in the sense of transparency and openness and accountability and identified movement in public, and he describes prevention strategies built around this concept while strengthening privacy. He argues why the current system of government is flawed, and he offers a revamped nonpartisan constitution as a replacement.