Thomas Paine opposed slavery, was for the Separation of Church and State, advocated public schools, advised an elderly pension program, and disliked as well as disbelieved in "revealed religions." Thomas Paine has been almost forgotten and ignored by the history books except for an action that couldn't be left out if a half baked story of the American Revolution could be told. His work, Common Sense, empowered the people of the United States with the knowledge that they could govern themselves without an imperial and tyrannical regime in Britain. Today the US is in a similar position. Our very government has become the evil that we opposed. We have become an Empire that has destroyed democratic governments worldwide while limiting liberties at home in the name of freedom. Today, our Thomas Paine is Mike Gravel, a man that has been censored for his avocation of the National Initiative for Democracy and his criticisms of American Empire.