I judge him based on the times and who he was at the times. I don't do it after the fact, but in the context of the society he lived. In fact, you are judging him "after the fact" wihtout understanding much about him beyond the quick read you do in wikipedia or some other such weak reference.
Paine risked his life for the formation of America and the people who owed him, turned their back on him. He is one of the true luminaries in America history.
In fact he didn't, and assiduously avoided any kind of military action (though he was a soldier of a sort). He wasn't a revolutionary leader, his first pamphlet was written anonymously (only after it was wildly popular and he thought it was safe did he reveal he was the author ). By most of the revolutionary leaders, including Jefferson, he was seen as a dangerous hot head and a bit of a coward.
His writings are directly linked to creating a fervor in the American people to resist British rule. Baldar calls him Che, but Che was not the writer, statesman or major figure of the revolution that Paine was, and Paine was not the military man that Che was.
That is true. Maybe it would be better to put him in the pantheon with Goebbels.
He, virtually, single-handedly roused the Pre-Americans from their woe and slumber to fight for Freedom.
In truth, he roused the less educated the way you do a lynch mob. It worked great. It got the colonists talking.
But judging by what his peers thought of him, I don't think there is much that is admirable about him personally. He had that one incredible pamphlet that he wrote, a converging of the forces of the universe, time and place and that sort of thing, but if you judge him by the context of the times, and not through the middle school mythos of history, you would find the man extremely wanting.
By the way, I do like his writings and find them insightful, but I also don't entertain the myths of who he was. So my point is for someone who constantly goes against myths or so called myths of religion, you in effect engage in the same thing you accuse others of doing.
A double standard?
