Every Citizen a Politician, Part II

". . . for liberty will never be safe or durable in a republic till every citizen thinks it as much his duty to take care of the state, as to take care of his family, and until an indifference to any public question shall be considered a public offence [editor's emphasis]."

These are the words of a pseudonymous writer defending Thomas Paine in 1792, as quoted in Thomas Paine and the Promise of America by Harvey Kaye. Unfortunately to most Americans today, interest in (particularly vocal)--not indifference to--the issues of the day is considered a public offense.

Then he quotes another correspondent of the time who concludes that every citizen "ought to be a politician in a degree."

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