The NSA Plays Mad King George in This Revolution

Robert Scheer / Truthdig Jan 7, 2014 Like this country's early revolutionaries, Edward Snowden knows that true patriotism demands a vigilant confrontation with government infamy. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Dear Royal Baby: We Americans Apologize for Our Revolution; Please Be Our Absolute Monarch

Juan Cole / Truthdig Jul 23, 2013 Things like freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which seemed like a good idea in 1789, now seem really dangerous to us and we’ve started to agree with King George III about the undesirability of those liberties. Our forebears minded the torture and cruel and unusual punishments imposed by the king. But we have gone back to torturing people. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

‘Left, Right & Center’: July 4 and the Meaning of America

Staff / Truthdig Jul 6, 2013 On this Independence Day-themed show, Truthdig Editor-in-Chief Robert Scheer and the other "Left, Right & Center" panelists ponder the meaning of America. If our nation was founded by revolutionaries, what would they think of our current surveillance practices, economic opportunities, gay rights and foreign policy? Is NSA leaker Edward Snowden in the tradition of the founders of this country? Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

A Call to Action

By James Cromwell May 23, 2013 The Obama administration has passed or made use of a host of laws to infringe our civil liberties, obliterate the balance of power, legitimize a military dictatorship, and control the dissemination of truth in the name of protecting its "secrets." Soon we will have lost our freedom, not to some foreign nation that hates it, but to our own devices.The Obama administration has passed or made use of a host of laws to infringe our civil liberties, legitimize a military dictatorship and control the dissemination of the truth. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

Plutonomy and the Precariat: On the History of the U.S. Economy in Decline

Staff / Truthdig May 8, 2012 After the first few years of the Great Depression there was a sense that “we’re gonna get out of it." It's quite different now. For many people in the United States, there’s a pervasive sense of hopelessness, sometimes despair. I think it’s quite new in American history. And it has an objective basis. Dig deeper ( 12 Min. Read )

From Concord to Cairo: Freedom

Richard Reeves / Truthdig Feb 15, 2011 We do not know what will happen next in Egypt and the larger Middle East, but then our liberators did not know what would happen in 1775. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Glenn Beck Calls Thomas Paine the Glenn Beck of Revolutionary America

Staff / Truthdig Feb 19, 2010 Based on this video, it seems Fox News viewers are so patriotic they don't know anything about the origins of our country During this little history lesson, Glenn Beck explains who Tom Paine was: "kind of the me " In fairness, Beck made a disgusted face as he said it -- the same one we were making. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

‘We Have It in Our Power to Begin the World Over Again’

Staff / Truthdig Jun 9, 2009 Today marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Thomas Paine, a man who rallied the American people in the fight for independence from Britain, denounced political corruption and defended "free and rational inquiry" in the face of organized religion. He famously wrote, “The world is my country. All mankind are my brethren. To do good is my religion." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )