From the Greek paideia, meaning "education" or "child-rearing" (from paidos meaning "child"), FreedomPedia aims to educate others, children or adults, about freedom (eleutheria, in case you were wondering) and a variety of freedom-related topics. The main goal is to document how the Voluntary Society has worked in the past, works in the present and will continue to work and generally benefit all its participants in the future. A secondary objective is to contrast how the Coerced Society fails to benefit but a few of its members.
Today's Featured Article
- Thomas Paine:
Thomas Paine (1737-1809), English author, was born at Thetford, Norfolk, on the 29th of January 1737, the son of a Quaker staymaker. After several years at sea and after trying various occupations on land, Paine took up his father's trade in London, where he supplemented his meager grammar school education by attending science lectures. He succeeded in 1762 in gaining an appointment in the excise, but was discharged for neglect of duty in 1765. Three years later, however, he received another appointment, at Lewes in Sussex. He took a vigorous share in the debates of a local Whig club, and in 1772 he wrote a pamphlet embodying the grievances of excise men and supporting their demands for an increase of pay. In 1774 he was dismissed from the service for absence without leave—in order to escape his creditors.