9 Articles of the Republic

The Nine Articles for the Free Thinker

• The Common Sense Republic is an independent blog dedicated to the promotion of knowledge, ideas, free thinking, and general awareness. Often these viewpoints are discussed with an element of inherent humor. We try not to take anything too seriously, and attempt to keep everything in perspective.
• We believe in shaking off any pre-programmed prejudices of party and class, while approaching all aspects of life with independant thought, reason, debate, and comedy.
• We believe that open mindedness and a firm resolve to attempt an understanding of opposing views can evolve into mutual respect.
• We believe that all opinions, facts, and ideas presented with that same level of respect should be given an open ear.
• We oppose and condemn the all too common practice of engaging in demeaning and divisive discourse. Furthermore, we believe that this style of ugly debate hinders any progress in increasing one’s own understanding of a topic.
• We oppose any “dissidents” who prefer to abandon respect for personal attacks, who have no desire to further understanding or to persuade, but rather to simply win an argument. Too often this is a result of a blind faith in an ideology or pre-programmed belief that has gone personally unquestioned for far too long.
• We believe it is everyman’s responsibility to appropriately question his or her own existing beliefs, to constantly look for the truth, and to apply that knowledge without fear of conflicts, both internal and external, that might be awakened as a result.
• Finally, we believe everyone can and should be an independent thinker. It takes a desire and dedication to objectively analyze and judiciously weigh the constant barrage of ideas and opinions presented by institutions in all corners our society (in politics, the media, religion, family, even this website).
• The desire for personal understanding and the dissemination of knowledge is part of what defines the The Common Sense Republic.

The Constitution

The Constitution:

We, the slightly sarcastic people of The Common Sense Republic, may have created this forum to promote free thinking and general good sense through humor and social/political commentary. It may have also been designed to demonstrate, even prove, that opposing viewpoints can still be presented with logical argument in a respectful way. We might hope that everyone holds their views as passionately as we do, and we probably feel that every well thought out idea deserves respect and fair consideration. (The same might not be said for ideas or opinions that exhibit an obvious lack of independent thought and/or common sense.)

At the end of the day, we are probably right in the understanding that there are a few key elements that are helpful, if not essential, to achieving effective political and social progress, resulting in increased general knowledge and the ability to compromise.

• A mutual (and often grudging) respect for the independent thinker’s ideas.
• A sense of humor.
• A desire for greater personal understanding.
• A platform to promote general awareness and common sense.

* We will probably just go ahead and leave this up to interpretation and reinterpretation, and fully expect it to change with time.