Common Sense of a Conservative

This book is dedicated to my wife Christina, who has supported me through thick and thin and to my three kids, Karen, Eric and Jason whom have made me proud.

In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense, a 79-page pamphlet in which he offered nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense on the idea of American independence from England. He questioned the English monarchy and the English Parliament. He stated, "To say that the Commons is a check upon the king, presupposes... that the king is not to be trusted without being looked after," (Paine Common Sense, Page 553) Within 3 months Common Sense sold 120,000 copies in America alone, not to mention sales in European countries such as England and France. This pamphlet inspired many people to get involved in the strive for independence. It also prepared the colonists for the Declaration of Independence, written later that year.

What is common sense? Common sense for me is an approach to dealing with life issues. Ideally, everyone should have it at birth. It is the sum total of all knowledge that we learn growing up. It is knowledge that we pickup from our parents and friends and our relatives and our teachers which help us deal with our lives and our world.
It is our sixth sense. If everything goes as it suppose to, by the time we are mature (age 18 or so), we will be well equipped to handle the challenges of life. It is one of the reasons that society provides free public education to all. Common sense has nothing to do with intelligence or IQ. All of us have the potential to acquire common sense. So, the big question is - why some of us don't? or choose not to use them?

For example, all of us know about the pyramid (ponzi) scheme. It is a common scam that fools some people into participating in a game where a few people at the top makes some money and the rest of the people looses all their money. It is a very simple idea and you would think everyone would see right through it and that would be the end of it right? Wrong, and it is a common occurrence and new variations are created and some people falls for it again and again.

My theory is that some people either lack common sense or they loose it temporarily. I decided to write this book so that we can quantify this thing called "common sense" and give real examples on how we can apply them. In addition, they often give in to a "mob mentality" in the moment of passion. I will provide a more detail explanation later in the section on Social matters.
I firmly believe that the world will be a better place if all of us just use more common sense.

Why should you read this book? What can I tell you that you do not know already?
Will it help you in any way and improve your life or your outlook on life?
The answer is up to you. If you want to avoid some of the pitfalls and get an upper hand, I suggest you read on. I don't claim to have all the answers and I am not perfect. In many ways I am just an American wanting to help my fellow Americans have some common sense. I have assembled some things of interest and have added my personal opinions and stories to make my points. You don't have to agree with all of it. Just read and enjoy.

Let me say a word about how this book is organized. It may help you to read it. You can choose to read it from beginning to end as any book but that is not necessary. Except for the introduction and the first few chapters, the rest of the book is an assortment of topics that can stand on its own. I tried to create categories to group them but some issues clearly overlap many categories. Check the Table of Content and read any topic that may interest you. I have divided the book into Top Issues, Religious, Financial, Political, Social, Personal and Misc. groups. I've also added some topics of personal interest to me at the end. They are some common sense advice for how should we live.

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