Paine is a very complex and interesting figure who does not fit neatly into any political category that I know of. He wasn’t as much of a Classical Liberal as I first thought and in fact was among the first to propose a social welfare program similar to Social Security. He was also more in favor of a true democracy than the other founders (most of which preferred a constitutional representative republic). He’s a mixed bag to be sure but he does deserve much more credit than he receives for helping to form this great nation.