Amid Lead
House Manager Jaime Raskin's personal tragic sorrow burying his son the
day before, he summoned his brightest intellect and quoted
extemporaneously from Tom Paine's 1776 "Common Sense." I think it a
paragraph worth stating during the trial of Donald J. Trump for his
instigation of the tragic Capitol assault killing 4 and wounding 140 on
January 6, 2021. We who are the enemies of fascism and
authoritarian rule must find him guilty of perpetrating high crimes
attempting to overthrow our republic by violent means.
“THESE
are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine
patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country;
but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and
woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this
consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the
triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is
dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a
proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so
celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated”
THOMAS PAYNE
