{"id":406,"date":"2018-10-01T20:47:40","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T00:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tompainetoday.com\/commonsense\/?p=406"},"modified":"2021-10-01T10:11:17","modified_gmt":"2021-10-01T14:11:17","slug":"jimmy-carter-on-thomas-paine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tompainetoday.com\/commonsense\/2018\/10\/01\/jimmy-carter-on-thomas-paine\/","title":{"rendered":"President Jimmy Carter on Thomas Paine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I understand fully the limits of moral suasion. We have no illusion that changes will come easily or soon. But I also believe that it is a mistake to undervalue the power of words and of the ideas that words embody. In our own history, that power has ranged from Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream.”<\/p>

In the life of the human spirit, words are action, much more so than many of us may realize who live in countries where freedom of expression is taken for granted. The leaders of totalitarian nations understand this very well. The proof is that words are precisely the action for which dissidents in those countries are being persecuted.<\/p>

Nonetheless, we can already see dramatic, worldwide advances in the protection of the individual from the arbitrary power of the state. For us to ignore this trend would be to lose influence and moral authority in the world. To lead it will be to regain the moral stature that we once had.<\/p>

The great democracies are not free because we are strong and prosperous. I believe we are strong and influential and prosperous because we are free.
<\/p>President Jimmy Carter, May 22, 1977 (source<\/a>)
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I understand fully the limits of moral suasion. We have no illusion that changes will come easily or soon. But I also believe that it is a mistake to undervalue the power of words and of the ideas that words embody. In our own history, that power has ranged from Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” to …<\/p>\n

President Jimmy Carter on Thomas Paine<\/span>Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-quotes"],"yoast_head":"\nPresident Jimmy Carter on Thomas Paine | Common Sense by Tom Paine Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tompainetoday.com\/commonsense\/2018\/10\/01\/jimmy-carter-on-thomas-paine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"President Jimmy Carter on Thomas Paine | Common Sense by Tom Paine Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I understand fully the limits of moral suasion. 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