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?

Examples Of Conservative Blindness

"It is better to be silent and to be thought a fool,

than to speak out and remove all doubt."

(multiple attributions)

Conservatives have disqualified themselves from the rest of us needing to take them seriously. The following videos are emblematic of their erroneous thinking processes:

Rick Santorum

Ben Shapiro

Dave Rubin

"Manifest Destiny" In-Depth

The term "Manifest Destiny" is usually used to explain the motivations of the early settlers of the US as they moved westward. However, its roots go back to the foundations of Christianity, with its alliances with Monarchies in Europe. These alliances initiated such religion-state policies as imperialism, colonialism, and the genocides of indigenous peoples. As the Catholic Church and other branches of Christianity deny their roles in this horrible racist ideology, keep in mind that history is written by the victors. Below is an excellent podcast exposing the breadth and depth of this sad legacy of religion and its views of "The Other."

"Today we take a look at the origins and legacy of Manifest Destiny, the historical term most closely tied to our most toxic version of nostalgia: the one longing for America's golden age of genocide"

Click on the link below:

What Trump is Invoking When He Invokes Manifest Destiny