The Fight Over Common Sense: Every politician and the Tea Party claims the mantle of "common sense" but Sophia Rosenfeld says they misunderstand Tom Paine, who had a radical agenda that would surprise his fans on the right.

Does your local representative have some new legislation to propose this year? Chances are he or she will promote it as the embodiment of common sense. Tax cuts, health-insurance reform, even new laws requiring those running for election to prove their citizenship: No policy area is immune. "It's not a birther bill, it's a common-sense bill," explained Republican State Senator Rick Brinkley, a lead sponsor of a recent Oklahoma initiative requiring that all candidates provide certified proof that they meet the legal qualifications for the office in question. And recently Godfather Pizza CEO Hermain Cain announced he was running for president of the United States on none other than a platform of "common-sense solutions." Common sense has become the standard to which all good political decisions are supposed to conform.

In a fraught and polarized moment, a politics built on common sense sounds appealingly pragmatic and uncontroversial, the kind of the thing upon which we can't help but agree. It also sounds deeply American in a folksy sort of way. In its latest incarnation--and especially among conservative grassroots groups with names like the Common Sense Tea Party who have rejuvenated this appeal--common sense conjures up a storied past in which "we, the people," as opposed to pointy-headed experts and elites, ruled the day, and true leaders...