The Third Party Starts with Some Common Sense (Part 2 of 4)
We continue to examine the foundations of a Third Party, based on our Founder's forward thinking, combined with the complexity of our modern nation.
One of those works is titled “Common Sense” by Thomas Paine. His opposition and disgust with the Crown in Britain caused him to prompt others to consider (at significant risk) breaking with the monarchy and encouraging the young Colonies to break free of the oppressive rule of King George III. His pamphlet, published anonymously in January of 1776, is a direct, persuasive argument for American independence from Britain, and sold over 100,000 copies in the first few months, which was extraordinary at the time.
“These are times that try men’s souls.” – Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
This quote from Common Sense sums up our current feelings towards Donald Trump, who is like someone who sees the world through a very warped lens, which doesn’t reflect what the broader majority of people in the US feel will help them make their daily lives better.
Thomas Paine wanted to mobilize people toward the idea that radical change was needed because their tolerance level was being reached. We’re in a similar situation right now, with a tidal wave of trouble headed our way (or arrived already), and loyalist incompetence up and down the breadth and width of the Federal Government in just 154 days since his regime took office. The Third Party is about restoring confidence in America by acting now to ensure we, and future generations, never let this happen again. No more lies, no more distorted narratives created to brainwash the sleepwalkers among us. Let’s look at just a few examples:
Just this weekend, Donald Trump committed acts of war against a country we see, along with Israel, as strategic to our interests without the required consent of Congress, and without the sensible consultation with our world’s political and strategic allies, further deteriorating our relationship with them.
CBS Face the Nation had both Secretary of Defense Pete Kegstand and President Trump saying lots of things to make us start our day with antacids:
Then, Donald Trump’s reckless tariffs and trade wars with every country on the planet have created global uncertainty that is unnecessary, and put demands on American businesses that take years, not weeks or months, to plan and change appropriately.
Donald Trump’s calling up of 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to protect a handful of buildings in Los Angeles not only bypasses working at all with the state’s Governor, it is a blatant positioning of military force where none is needed, against Citizens and non-Citizens alike, in a time when it is impossible to take seriously that we are being “invaded,” (unless you believe Mexico is actually, really invading America), giving Trump war-like powers when no such war exists. He intends to use it as a model across the country, and we find that intolerable, short-sighted, and an existential abuse of power threatening our liberties and rights as US Citizens.
Trump’s belief that domestic manufacturing can grow and thrive within our borders across all sectors of our economy in an instant is foolish, completely incompetent, and harmfully short-sighted. We can’t and shouldn’t do it. Furthermore, we should focus more on our strategic supply chains and not waste time in disputes with friendly nations with whom no quarrel existed before Trump came to power
ICE Raids in Los Angeles last week, CA (C) 2025 Los Angeles Times Trump’s belief that domestic manufacturing can grow and thrive within our borders across all sectors of our economy in an instant is foolish, completely incompetent, and harmfully short-sighted. We can’t and shouldn’t do it. Furthermore, we should focus more on our strategic supply chains and not waste time in disputes with friendly nations with whom no quarrel existed before Trump came to power..
“Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best side, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” – Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
The Third Party recognizes the distinction of government in its role as the creator of federal laws, the stewards and protectors of other legislation for the betterment of all people, the judgment of offenses under the Rule of Law, and the provider of social covenants (contracts) to ensure income, medical health, and protection against the ravages of unexpected poverty of its citizens.
It is not “liberal” in the sense that we believe it should be all things for all people. The Third Party strongly believes there are many charitable sources who, through relief from income taxation, can deliver powerful remedies to poverty, hardship, job loss, physical and mental health, and the scourge of hunger and lack of medicine.
Yet, the government is called upon for the most fundamental of these services in the Social Covenant, because it is the final bulwark that can guarantee delivery of critical social services. It must deliver, to all, the safety nets of robust healthcare for its people, as well as supplemental programs to assist the disabled and severely disadvantaged (those who, it can be easily demonstrated, were not part of “all men are created equal”). That is its social covenant that is sacred, many decades old, and always in need of modernization and improvement to provide better services to those who need them most.
The current Trump administration has taken a destructive jackhammer to the infrastructure of the government, crippling its abiblity to deliver Social Security services to those who have paid into the system for decades, and demand responsiveness and transparency as to how their needs are being met. Elderly people are feeling the consequences of it already. The regime has stopped publishing performance stats to transparently evaluate the decline of its service levels.
Elderly people should not have to wait weeks for an appointment to answer a question. Does anyone in Trump’s administration know an elderly person with mental decline? I do. Trump. Make him live the Social Security nightmare for a week, just like a regular older person, and look the camera straight in the face of the American people. Then tell us all that it’s excellent and OK with those cuts Musk et.al. made.
Likewise, Elon Musk has used DOGE as a public-facing lightning rod to terminate hundreds of thousands of federal workers without transparency, measurement of success, or accountability. There is zero certainty as to what this unelected, unqualified, unsanctioned man has walked away with regarding the sheer depth of data he’s taken about every American the government stores. This is a grievance of highest importance to get to the bottom of and take remedies that may be possible, including imprisonment and further punishment under the laws of the United States.
So, we see government as a necessary evil, and yet we believe it can be done far better with planning, consensus, and transparency. We think the government is on the hook for:
The establishment of laws, procedures, institutions, and people dedicated to fulfilling the Constitutional needs of government, and,
The execution of services provided by the Social Covenants the United States has made with its own people, through healthcare services, hunger relief, disabled people’s services, and a connected support system of private sector services to deal with the charitable needs of people undergoing hardship.
Thomas Paine was the voice of a growing and valid rejection of British monarchy rule. He spoke up when the Colonies were at an inflection point of great significance. He planted the seeds for change in the minds of people who lived under a tyrannical rule that was increasingly erratic, inflammatory, and divisive. He sought solutions, not just airing of grievances, for the real problems facing Americans before they declared independence from the British Crown.
The Declaration of Independence
Our position today has haunting similarities to the worst and most oppressive tactics of the Trump administration and the inept, dysfunctional government that surrounds him. He’s tested every boundary and norm. His executive order stating that children of parents who are in the US illegally are not entitled to citizenship violates the 14th Amendment. His war on trade through tariffs was also a unilateral act of economic war on our allies, using the law of the International Emergency Powers Act. Further, he froze billions of dollars and defied judicial orders to unfreeze federal grants, loans, and other financial assistance funding.
These actions are not normal. They do not ring true to the messy, slow process our founders intended for complex decisions with profound consequences attached. Trump’s defiance of judicial rulings screams out to the world a breach of trust to the People who elected him, not to mention long-time partners who have supported the US. In the process, he’s placed extreme strain on the judicial system.
That system, which interprets the rule of law, has been under enormous strain as this administration has attacked it. It is effectively the bulwark and the point of no return for many of Trump’s abuses of power, overreach, and instigation of fights to push the country into repeated Constitutional crises.
That’s Today’s (Temporary) Wrap-Up
I pause here, there because my goal in writing this is not to overwhelm you with infromation and discourage reading. As we get into tomorrow’s issue, we’ll start with concrete examples of Trump’s behavior that oppose the Declaration of Independence and how the Third Party seeks to remedy the damage his regime has done.
We’re unafraid to speak up because our First Amendment rights still ring true in the Judicial branch, and our sentiments are not in any way to be construed as violent or intended to be taken as such. As the writer, I’m the peaceful type (most of the time), and I work hard to ensure I don’t use radicalizing language. Please let me know in the comments if you disagree!
We’re transitioning tomorrow from the Declaration to the Constitution. My goal is to provide information in manageable sections, each thought through and independently analyzed for its applicability and truth in the foundations of the Third Party.
Neither the Democratic nor the Republican parties of today are tethered to our national foundations in the way I describe: Instead, the Third Party is deeply rooted there, but openly acknowledges and embraces the evolution the United States has undergone since its founding. We seek the best intentions and most evident truths we can glean from our Founder’s providential work. We want to judiciously apply what we’ve learned since 1775 and build “a more perfect” Constitutional Republic.
As we move next into the Constitution, I will endeavor to anchor the Third Party even more closely to our Founders’ intents for our nation. I think it’s crucial in building momentum that we understand foundational connections, agree (or disagree and discuss) them, and hold them under the most clear and blazing sunlight to ensure they are “germ free,” to play off Louis D. Brandeis’ 1914 statement, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
Before I go, I must address any readers who still have visions of Curtis Yarvin’s prolific blog dancing in their heads. One thought in particular: That democracy is already long-dead, and that the governing have long lost the governed in their responsibility for consent. I agree with Yarvin for that statement alone because he is empirically correct, and not much else. However, when we disassemble the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the Founders never intended to create a “perfect form of democracy.”
The Founders knew of democracy’s prior failings due to its inherent issues of scalability and potential for entire societies to run off a cliff to their deaths because of the “tyranny of the majority” throughout history. That’s why our goal is not to perfect that which will not work, but to use what is right in front of us already: The Constituional Republic allows for the democratic (will of the people) choice to select the republican (person of education, specialty, and skill in necessary matters – which has fallen to the far wayside in our times) to represent them in the Legislative, Executive, and indirectly in the Judicial branch (through Congress’s selection of Justices).
Democracy requires initiative, self-interest, education, a sense of offense when trampled upon, personal individual responsibility taken from us, a decisive response when threatened, and an exigent call to action in times like the present one.
The vast majority of people who choose to support the Third Party will recognize and mourn the betrayal of many freedoms, intents, and ignored virtues by President Donald Trump and his lapdog cabinet and complicit Congress. Democrats have been a bastion of infighting and a handful of secular, independent actions. They’ve been carried out by the few and brave among them (AOC, Sanders, Murphy, JB Pritzker, Crockett, to name a few.)
If they see value here, I call on those people to examine the Third Party and analyze it to see if it makes sense and is worth supporting. As I continue to expand the connections between party design and the arc of our Constitutional Republic, I hope it becomes exceedingly clear to all how rooted in Common Sense my proposal is and the whole arc of constitutional history our country has written. Some will come when they see a likely path to restore their faith in their government. It must work for that trust, produce results quickly, and sustain it on an upward trajectory indefinitely. It is possible, and we must undertake it or face the needless downfall of an exceedingly rare gift our Founding Fathers gave us in this Republic.
Please Be Well.
Rick Herbst
June 23, 2025
CITATIONS
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/common-sense.html
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/10/11/the-myth-of-american-exceptionalism/
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-history
https://www.independent.org/article/2001/04/21/the-declaration-of-independence/
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/declara/ruffdrft.html
https://iep.utm.edu/american-enlightenment-thought/
https://research.tees.ac.uk/files/4039878/620577.pdf
https://www.britannica.com/event/French-Revolution
https://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0323/ch31.xhtml
Too scary, and sad.
Our world just tilted once again on its precipice of unsettling times.
Kindest regards to all who seek peace.
Carol Power
Johannesburg
South Africa
This third party sounds more like the core of the Democratic Party than many here might wish to admit. Were we to correct Citizens United and pass legislation to stop insider trading, Harris’ policies would on nearly every front fall well within this discussion.