Portrait of Thomas Paine
Radical left · Thinker or writer · From history

Thomas Paine

English-born pamphleteer, 1737 to 1809

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His pamphlet Common Sense helped spark the American Revolution and The Rights of Man defended the French one. He also proposed early old-age pensions and support for the poor.

Thomas Paine sits in the left-libertarian part of the Caucus economy and liberty compass: slightly state-led and strongly libertarian. The clearest positions are strongly libertarian on liberty and authority, strongly anti-establishment on institutions and strongly progressive on culture.

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Where Thomas Paine sits on ten dimensions

Each scale runs from one pole to the other, and the dot shows the overall tendency of this person's record and public life. These are simplified estimates and open to debate.

💰EconomySlightly state-led
State-ledFree market
⚖️Liberty and authorityStrongly libertarian
LibertarianAuthoritarian
🎭CultureStrongly progressive
ProgressiveTraditional
🌍NationLeaning globalist
GlobalistNationalist
🌱EnvironmentSlightly nature-first
Growth-firstNature-first
🤖TechnologyLeaning tech-optimist
Tech-cautiousTech-optimist
🕊️War and peaceLeaning peace-first
Peace-firstStrength-first
🏛️InstitutionsStrongly anti-establishment
Anti-establishmentInstitutional
🙏ReligionStrongly secular
SecularReligious
🛡️InterventionismLeaning interventionist
Non-interventionistInterventionist

People most like Thomas Paine

Harvey Milk American gay-rights politician, 1930 to 197898%Salman Rushdie British-Indian novelist98%Olympe de Gouges French playwright and feminist, 1748 to 179397%Ai Weiwei Chinese artist and dissident97%Mary Wollstonecraft English writer and philosopher, 1759 to 179797%Jon Stewart American comedian and commentator96%Victor Hugo French novelist and politician, 1802 to 188595%Mikhail Bakunin Russian revolutionary and anarchist, 1814 to 187694%

People furthest from Thomas Paine

Joseph de Maistre Savoyard counter-revolutionary thinker, 1753 to 18214%Mojtaba Khamenei Supreme Leader of Iran, 2026 to present4%Louis XIV King of France, 1643 to 17154%Francisco Franco Ruler of Spain, 1939 to 19755%

Political views closest to Thomas Paine

Radical democracyWants more direct participation in decisions, through assemblies, referendums and…97%Democratic confederalismA stateless, feminist and ecological model of local assemblies federated from below.97%Pirate politicsChampions digital rights, transparency, privacy and copyright reform.96%MutualismA market-based anarchism in which workers and small producers trade fairly through…94%

Read more about Thomas Paine

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Percentages show how close two profiles are across all ten dimensions. Including a person here is for study and comparison, not approval. Portrait: Laurent Dabos, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; see all photo credits.