What Is Common Sense

In America, we operate under certain assumptions. "Common Sense" is one of those....

Quote: 

• "The First Amendment makes confidence in the Common Sense of our people and in the maturity of their judgment the great postulate of our democracy." - William Orville Douglas.

Common Sense is a uniquely American concept which presumes the verifiable existence of certain fundamental, commonly held, and basic understandings shared by all members of our collective society. Although the American society offers no formal training or classroom instruction in areas of strictly Common Sense, people who lack in having it are often publicly humiliated and relegated to the status of a mere halfwit. These incidents are easily justified by the American population on the grounds that the classroom and study materials are equally available to all.

The classroom is the Earth and everyone's birth is the price of their own admission. Common Sense is readily acquired through a personal and day to day observation of the natural world and the interplay, of our fellow human beings, who are involved in it. Being A: "Learn it, as you go, system," Common Sense even makes allowance for the fact that we all operate at some different levels of perception in this area.... As any Real American can tell you, "It is only Common Sense, that [even] Common Sense should be that way!"


If all this doesn't confuse you enough, then stop to consider this.... Common Sense is really a long list of mutually accepted understandings, by which the action of one individual [or an entire grouping thereof]  may be readily judged in there claim to possession of wisdom. Since the term Common Sense may apply equally: to that list in general, or any specific understanding - which is part of that list - it may only and truly be defined by its syntactical use in any given sentence as modified by the context of the paragraph in which it was actually inserted. Thus, in the unique American colloquial lexicon the term Common Sense has far greater implications to our society as a whole, than any other single word or concept ever yet devised by man!

This is how things sat for many years.... Until, in 1776 when Thomas Paine wrote a very extraordinary little pamphlet calling for the United States of America to formally declare its independence from the kingdom of Great Britain. The name of that pamphlet was both sublimely enlightening and uniquely inspirational to a nation of deep thinkers - such as were the American people.... It was called, simply, "Common Sense."


This small pamphlet was written in such a way as to appeal to its fellow Americans on three basic levels of common understanding : Knowledge of History, Knowledge of Scripture, and Knowledge of Law or Politics. It spun and wove these three threads - the underlying belief structures - so thoroughly, tightly, and completely, that a new American fabric was formed from its resultant cloth. The war which soon resulted was both inevitable in its occurrence and in its ultimate result.... The transformation of a man's spirit always precedes the war which  is fought to ultimate success in his body! This too, is just plain Common Sense.

I could go on and on for days, weeks, or even years... In an effort to explain what Common Sense truly is to those who [in fact] lack it. Meanwhile, to the average American - unlearned, though he may often be - Common Sense is as readily understood as the air which he breathes each day. If you can't understand it by now, then Common Sense dictates that I have already wasted far too much time on this subject!