Throwback Truths: These Are The Times That Try Men's Souls

At the Institute on the Constitution, we believe that safeguarding our future begins with understanding and reinforcing our foundations. That’s why we’ve created Throwback Truths — a series that revisits classic video presentations from Michael Anthony Peroutka, founder of IOTC. These timeless messages encourage us to reflect on who we are as a nation and the principles that define true liberty.

In this edition, we revisit the powerful words of Thomas Paine, whose plainspoken logic helped spark a revolution. But his insight wasn’t only for kings and parliaments of old—it also speaks forcefully to the quiet normalization of constitutional violations we tolerate today. What happens when wrong becomes routine? What happens when our government’s lawlessness is cloaked in long-standing habit?

“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.” So wrote Paine in Common Sense—a pamphlet that helped ignite the American Revolution in 1775. The passion and clarity of his reasoning awakened the colonies to resist English tyranny. But crucially, Paine did not say habit made a thing right. Only that it made it appear so.

This principle is especially relevant in our own time, when the federal government repeatedly violates the Constitution—often without protest. Take, for example, Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, which clearly states that only Congress has the power to declare war. Yet the last time Congress formally exercised that authority was in 1941, following Pearl Harbor. Every war since—Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan—has been entered into without constitutional sanction. That’s not just a procedural oversight. It’s unlawful.

And war is just one example. Entire federal agencies operate outside any constitutional mandate: the Department of Education, the EPA, the Department of Health and Human Services. These rogue branches of a bloated central regime are not only unauthorized—they’re actively harmful. Waste, inefficiency, and unchecked bureaucracy plague the people.

What’s worse, local and state governments—who should be the constitutional shield of the people—often capitulate. Federal grants come with strings attached, and too many officials are eager to accept those strings, even when it means surrendering their constituents’ liberty or property.

We need leaders—not summer soldiers, not sunshine patriots—who will stand against this federal overreach. Leaders who remember that just because a thing is customary doesn’t mean it’s lawful. Or right.

Thomas Paine reminded us: “These are the times that try men’s souls.” And those words still ring true. 

We must recover the conviction, courage, and constitutional clarity of our founding vision—and dare to walk it again.