IJ Recognizes A Modern-day Thomas Paine

December 2005

IJ recently presented Orange County Register editorial writer Steven Greenhut with the “Thomas Paine Award” for his journalistic work advancing liberty.

IJ Recognizes A Modern-day Thomas Paine

By John E. Kramer

Orange County Register editorial writer Steven Greenhut recently received the Institute for Justice’s “Thomas Paine Award,” which IJ presents to journalists who advance individual liberty through their craft. Past recipients include syndicated columnist George F. Will, Wall Street Journal editorial writer John Fund, and host of ABC News “20/20” John Stossel.

The plaque presented to Greenhut reads, “As a tireless champion of individual liberty, your inspiring words have helped preserve the freedoms that are every American’s birthright. Presented to Steven Greenhut by his friends at the Institute for Justice with our sincere appreciation and heartfelt thanks.”

At the award dinner in San Francisco in October, Greenhut said, “I’m honored to receive the Thomas Paine Award from the Institute for Justice. Sure, it puts me in great company with past winners. And who wouldn’t want their name attached to anything bearing freedom-lover Thomas Paine’s moniker? But I’m particularly honored given the role the Institute has played in promoting freedom; not just talking about it, but getting down in the trenches and helping individual property owners and entrepreneurs stand up for their rights. That’s what I pride myself in at the Orange County Register.”

Greenhut said, “IJ best epitomizes my favorite quotation about property rights. It’s from William Pitt, and I included it in my book, Abuse of Power: ‘The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the crown—it may be frail. Its roof may shake, the wind may blow through it—the storm may enter, the rain may enter, but the king of England cannot enter; all his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.’”

“That is the ideal upon which this nation was founded,” Greenhut concluded. “It is the ideal I strive for and IJ strives for. It is the key to freedom.”

IJ congratulates Steven Greenhut on his outstanding work and wishes him continued success in his principled advocacy.

John E. Kramer is IJ’s vice president for communications.