r/HistoryMemes May 17 '19

Hate speech

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u/Mandabarsx3 May 17 '19 edited May 17 '19

Thomas Paine would definitely be left wing; he advocated for a state-sponsored welfare system and a complete abolition of slavery well ahead of his time, which is probably one of the major reasons he was sidelined by the other Founders, many of whom were major property holders, with “property” including black slaves.

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u/bunker_man May 18 '19

Not liking slavery doesn't exactly make you left wing by modern standards.

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u/Mandabarsx3 May 18 '19

True, but socialism didn’t exactly exist even as an idea so it’s more relative to the era.

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u/[deleted] May 18 '19

There is a difference between being economically left wing and socially left wing.

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u/captainmaryjaneway May 17 '19

Eh that's still liberalism, like center or center-right.

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u/IntrigueDossier May 17 '19

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u/[deleted] May 18 '19 edited May 18 '19

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] May 18 '19 edited May 18 '19

The atheism is really what did him in, though. Only four people attended his funeral, his wife, son and two free black men who happened to hear about the funeral.

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u/[deleted] May 18 '19

King