[jpl]

The American and French revolutions have a lot more in common than many American conservatives are willing to admit. They were both products of the Enlightenment and, from a contemporary point-of-view, left-wing in their outlook. Of course, royalist and anti-Enlightenment conservatism has never really existed in America.

I would call Tom Paine the closest thing we had at the time to a leftist French-style revolutionary here in America, especially in regards to his fierce opposition to all religion. Fortunately for us, Ben Franklin and the overwhelming majority of the Founders were never quite willing to go this far.

[elhombrelibre]

Recall too that Thomas Paine was nearly executed in France during the revolution. I don't know why, but he was out of step with the constantly changing revolution and it's wrath.