A Sober Look At The USA On The Celebration Of Its Birth

"While Americans grill burgers and hot dogs, enjoy a dip in the pool, and await the annual July Fourth fireworks display, I remain happily surprised that this day of communal patriotism is still widely accepted and generally celebrated," Lewis argues. "To be blunt, it feels like the country is coming apart at the seams and lacking some shared purpose. And I'm not alone in feeling this way." Click on the link > (America is 'coming apart at the seams' as the 'nationalist' far right goes full 'authoritarian': conservative)

History, Authority, Expert, And Growing Up

History: the study of past events.

Authority: the power to influence or command thought, opinion, or behavior.

Expert: a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area.

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Human history began in ignorance, violence, and within small nomadic groups. As time progressed, humans became more organized and settled but ignorance and authoritarian control persisted. Democratic ideas evolved out of Greece but humanity at large was still ignorant of reality and under authoritarian control. Organized religion sprouted from persistent human ignorance of reality in attempts to explain the unexplainable, as well as to reinforce authoritarian control and to provide some comfort. Eventually, only a few hundred years ago, modern science and the Industrial Revolution sprouted. These phenomena exponentially expanded human knowledge, progress, and well-being. Democracy became a reality and knowledge expanded to the point where it caused the founding of institutions dedicated to creating expertise in specialized areas. 

The above growth in freedom, knowledge, and understanding of reality can be viewed as being analogous to a child growing up. However, there is a major immaturity from our ignorant and superstitious past holding humanity back and it is religion. Ironically, the most prominent religion has the following teaching but can't accept it as a reality:

• "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." ~ I Corinthians

ISN'T IT MORE THAN TIME FOR HUMANITY TO GROW UP?

 

Parental Rights And Responsibilities

There is a great deal of discussion, and disagreement, regarding parental rights and responsibilities in the political environment of the USA presently. While most legal sources agree that the parents are the prime sources of proper nurturing and protection of the child, they also agree that outside resources are necessary to aid in achieving the goal of a happy, healthy, and well-educated child. After all, the parent is not the "owner" of the child (and neither is the state). 

With that said, what happens when parents do not meet their responsibilities in child-rearing? There is little societal disagreement regarding not tolerating physical (exception: corporal punishment) or emotional abuse, and/or failure to provide food, clothing, and shelter. However, the areas of health and education can present situations ripe for disagreement, especially if one's ideology is based on claims unsupported by evidence:

• Health: circumcision? vaccinations? birth-control? hormone replacement therapy? gender reassignment surgery? abortion? alternatives to medicine?
• Education: religious indoctrination? secular morality? evolution, and other sciences? history (of racism, inequality,  colonialism, genocide, wars, greed, authoritarianism, individualism, communism, socialism, democracy, republicanism, tribalism, capitalism)?

What to do with all of this?

Economic Distress Can Lead To Fascism

"Today we take a look at the disruptions to society that can unfold in times of economic distress such as high inflation, price gouging, wage stagnation, and income inequality as well as some policy ideas for turning things around."

Click on the link below for an in-depth look at the dangers awaiting all democratic societies if authoritarianism isn't destroyed:

Mismanaging Capitalism Can Lead to Fascism

Why Is Latin America Still Poor?

"Why is Latin America poorer than North America? The massive differences in wealth between a rich United States and a relatively poor central and south America is startling and hard to explain at first. In the video we delve into the key historical, political and economic factors that have led to this inequality, finding that the answer is more startling and interesting than initially expected."

Click on the link below for the main reason: one has a democratic history and the other one of autocracy.

Why Is Latin America Still Poor?

Science Enlightens The Darkness

The Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries with global influences and effects. It included a range of ideas centered on the value of human happiness, the pursuit of knowledge obtained by means of reason and the evidence of the senses, and ideals such as liberty, progress, toleration, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state (Wikipedia.com). It helped combat the excesses of the church, establish science as a source of knowledge, and defend human rights against tyranny. It also gave us modern schooling, medicine, republics, representative democracy, and much more (Historyhit.com).
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The fruits of the Enlightenment are the main cultural forces in the USA against the Republican Party and conservative Christianity today. THEY HAVE TO WIN!!!

Freedom And Authoritarianism

"What Republicans increasingly refer to as 'freedom' is actually a very dark authoritarian vision for the country."

Click on the link below for an excellent presentation of how the Repugnants are being manipulated to the point where the USA is on the verge of losing its representative democratic form of government:

What They Call "Freedom" is Actually Authoritarianism.

Christianity And Authority: The Harm

There is much pseudoscience in religious circles regarding raising children. Here are two links exposing it to real scientific research (link) (link). Click on the link below for an enlightening video on the problem:

"PragerU made a video about parenting, and it won’t surprise you to learn that it’s garbage. Titled, 'How to Get Kids to Listen', it does literally nothing more than what the name suggests - tell parents to call for and expect obedience from their children. Of course those of you in Christian backgrounds will probably find his authoritarian mentality and approach familiar. In this video, I share my thoughts about his advice and how it relates to my history as a former evangelical parent/teacher/school administrator. While John Rosemond doesn’t address this in explicitly Christian terms, his parenting advice and underlying assumptions about obedience are deeply rooted in conservative evangelicalism, so I hope you find this helpful."

Prager "U", Christianity and Authoritarian Parenting