How would Thomas Paine have responded to U.S. government provisions for “security”?

This week on the Politomatic Podcast, is the America we have today still “Land of the Free,” or have we taken steps toward removing some of our freedoms in the name of security? When it comes to the discussion of rights and liberties, one of the clearest thinkers and brightest philosophers to assert the foundations for individual rights was Thomas Paine, whose works like Common Sense and The Rights of Man have served as a cornerstone for many of today’s political thinkers. But what would Paine think of something like the Patriot Act, which at the end of the month will be due (again) for a vote on it’s extension?

Click here to download the Politomatic Podcast for May 9th, 2011

Thomas Paine image by Bruce Porteous via Flickr.