The "Cowboy Myth" Of Rugged Individualism Destroyed

"I write a lot about how the Biden-Harris administration is working to restore the principles of the period between 1933 and 1981, when members of both political parties widely shared the belief that the government should regulate business, provide a basic social safety net, promote infrastructure, and protect civil rights. And I write about how that so-called liberal consensus broke down as extremists used the Reconstruction-era image of the American cowboy—who, according to myth, wanted nothing from the government but to be left alone—to stand against what they insisted was creeping socialism that stole tax dollars from hardworking white men in order to give handouts to lazy minorities and women.

"But five major stories over the past several days made me realize that I’ve never written about how Trump and his loyalists have distorted the cowboy image until it has become a poisonous caricature of the values its recent defenders have claimed to champion."

Click on the link below for more:

Conservative Economics Debunked

Libertarianism: Another Harmful Conservative Idea That Won't Die

"What happens if America just turns everything over to the morbidly rich and lets them and their corporations run the entire country? What could possibly go wrong? This bizarre experiment of libertarianism has been promoted by the billionaire class ever since World War II. And it’s literally killing some of us, along with threatening our democratic republic."

Click on the link below for a thorough debunking of minimal government:

10 Reasons NEVER To Flirt With Libertarianism

Neoliberalism And Libertarianism: They Must Be Defeated

"The Supreme Court turned the table on average, working people back in the 70s when they empowered wealthy individuals and corporations to have an outsized role in our politics. Now we're trapped in the reality that shift in power created and are dreaming of a better way to manage our economic and political systems for the benefit of all people."

Click on the link below for a vision of a future where Neoliberalism and Libertarianism are 4-letter words:

Beyond Neoliberalism: Dreaming a new economic system into being

The Horror of Libertarianism

"Robert Kennedy Jr. says, 'I’ve always been aligned with libertarians on most issues.' Bobby, of course, isn’t the only one. It’s high fashion across the GOP to claim your Libertarian credentials. First, Ron and then, Rand Paul turned it into a money-making scam. Meanwhile, most of the GOP’s ‘Putin Caucus’ love to talk up libertarianism as well…as do multiple right-wing billionaires. Senator Mike Lee has been a self-proclaimed Libertarian for years. It’s clearly visible in the talking points of Republican members of Congress as well as conservative pundits who argue that shutting the government down is a 'good thing.' Why? Because, in their view, most government functions are 'unnecessary' or (God forbid!) 'woke.' So, let’s look at how libertarianism would work in America and how it got here to begin with.”

Click on the link below for a video exposing one of the most dangerous ideologies poisoning a once-great US political party:

Their Politics Is Poison & You’ve Fallen For It

Why Are People Antiscience?

"From vaccination refusal to climate change denial, antiscience views are threatening humanity. When different individuals are provided with the same piece of scientific evidence, why do some accept whereas others dismiss it? Building on various emerging data and models that have explored the psychology of being antiscience, we specify four core bases of key principles driving antiscience attitudes. These principles are grounded in decades of research on attitudes, persuasion, social influence, social identity, and information processing. They apply across diverse domains of antiscience phenomena. Specifically, antiscience attitudes are more likely to emerge when a scientific message comes from sources perceived as lacking credibility; when the recipients embrace the social membership or identity of groups with antiscience attitudes; when the scientific message itself contradicts what recipients consider true, favorable, valuable, or moral; or when there is a mismatch between the delivery of the scientific message and the epistemic style of the recipient. Politics triggers or amplifies many principles across all four bases, making it a particularly potent force in antiscience attitudes. Guided by the key principles, we describe evidence-based counteractive strategies for increasing public acceptance of science."

Click on the link below for a scholarly, in-depth look at the danger and harm of anti-science, as well as its causation and recommended remedies:

Why are people antiscience, and what can we do about it?

Libertarianism: A Failure, Whether From The Left Or The Right

"Criticism of libertarianism includes ethical, economic, environmental, and pragmatic concerns and is often focused on right-libertarianism.[1] Critics have argued that laissez-faire capitalism does not necessarily produce the best or most efficient outcome,[2] and that libertarianism's philosophy of individualism and policies of deregulation fails to prevent the abuse of natural resources.[3] Criticism of left-libertarianism is instead mainly related to anarchism and includes allegations of utopianism,[4] tacit authoritarianism[5][6], and vandalism towards feats of civilization.[7] Left and right-libertarians also engage in criticism of each other."

Click on the link below for an excellent Wikipedia summary of the many areas of society in which it fails:

Criticism of Libertarianism

Beware: Libertarianism Is Not Dead

" - - - He’s an Ayn Rand libertarian. On ideological grounds, he doesn’t believe that government action can help. He thinks regulation makes things worse. When asked by an Oxford Union audience member about how he 'would fix' the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), he said we need to get over our 'Stockholm syndrome' as a country and privatize it already. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, even billionaires. But it’s a fringe ideology. And it’s one that could do a huge amount of harm."

I have posted many times on the vapid ideas of libertarianism. Understand that it is a major factor in the harm from the Republican Party. Click on the link below for a refutation of libertarianism by a respected member of an existential risk group:

There’s no libertarian approach to preventing the end of the world

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?

Just Another Reason To Ignore Crypto-Currency/Bitcoin

"Bitcoin mining caused climate damages amounting to $12 billion during 2016-2021, a new study estimated. Carbon dioxide equivalent emissions from electricity production for Bitcoin mining rose 126 times to 113 tonnes in that period, according to the paper published in the Scientific Reports. In 2021, the total global damages of all coins mined exceed $3.7 billion. Mining Bitcoin is comparable to making energy-intensive products such as beef, natural gas, and crude oil, the research showed."

Click on the link below for more:

Bitcoin mining unsustainable

Neoliberalism: Libertarianism In Sheep's Clothing

Since the end of the Second World War, the USA has been trending politically toward Neoliberalism: "- - - a policy model that encompasses both politics and economics and seeks to transfer the control of economic factors from the public sector to the private sector. Many neoliberalism policies enhance the workings of free-market capitalism and attempt to place limits on government spending, government regulation, and public ownership." It has similarities with Libertarianism but respects the concept of a Nation-State. Click on the link below for an important podcast delving into the failures of the concept:

"Today we take a look at the cracks and fissures appearing ever more quickly in the neoliberal order that was already widely criticized before the pandemic stripped it bare, exposing all of the inherent inequality and inhumanity baked right into the system."

Neoliberalism is Hanging on for Dear Life in Changing Times

Healthcare: Individual Rights Vs The General Welfare

Points to ponder:

• Individual rights are not absolute 
• Libertarianism is a marginal idea and not a universal value
• Humans have evolved as social animals and have thrived from such
• The Preamble to the US Constitution: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
• The First Amendment to the US Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
• Morality comes from biology and socialization, not from an unevidenced God

Given the above:

• Why Catholic hospitals are bad for the US

The Politics of Cryptocurrency/Bitcoin

In my exposure to Cryptocurrency/Bitcoin promotion, I have noticed that virtually all proponents profess the political ideology of individual rights, economic liberty, and limited government. This is libertarianism. Libertarianism is a failed political concept with no examples of such a utopia in the history of the human race (link). Sorry, I will take my financial risks with investments with a proven track record in regulated capitalism/social democratic forms of government.

Click on the following links for more on the subject: (link) (link) (link) (link) 

Lessons From The Early History Of Humans

"'Civilized to Death' counters the idea that progress is inherently good, arguing that the 'progress' defining our age is analogous to an advancing disease."

Libertarians like to claim that unfettered capitalism and personal freedom are inherently good, and humanity needs to get back to its cultural roots of strong individualism (link). They criticize the collectivism of democratic socialism/regulated capitalism, let alone true communism/socialism. Click on the link below for a historical look at humanity at its beginning to get some insight regarding the good and bad of human society organizations:

Is Civilization Our Greatest Accomplishment or Worst Mistake?

Is Taxation Theft?

One doesn't have to go far in the "Trump Era" to find media personalities promoting the idea that taxation is theft, especially in financial media. This Wikipedia page presents the history and support of this ideology, along with representative statements supporting the legality and ethics of taxation. Also, click on the link below for a clear and succinct argument against the claim that taxation is theft:

No, it's not your money: why taxation isn't theft

Applying this taxation ethic, using public funds from taxes for various societal benefits is supported by science as cost-effective. John Oliver gets it.

Is Altruism Evil?

"Rand examines the philosophy that holds individual men should be used as sacrificial animals for the group, the fundamental premise of collectivist politics." (Ayn Rand - Why Altruism is Evil)

Following was my response to this political/ethical extremism:

"Ayn Rand has no idea of how humanity has become a successful species: a mixture of self-interest and altruism. Extremes of self-interest are the 'evils' she should be decrying. Show me any society that ever was only altruistic from the top down. Her argument is the same type of argument that Republicans make about 'socialism.' However, those who want the government to be the sole means of production are very few. What Republicans and Libertarians are calling 'socialism' is actually 'democratic socialism': regulated capitalism with taxation proportional to the ability to pay such in order to minimize economic inequality."

This link is a nice rebuttal to her philosophy, which presents research into the negative effects of her ideas:

This is what happens if you take Ayn Rand seriously

Liberarianism Is Pie In The Sky

"Based on the evidence, the case against the libertarian market and for democratic government is stronger than ever. But when government gets into bed with private industry and finance at the expense of regular people, the citizenry loses confidence in government."

A balanced look at a minimal government and taxes utopia.

What the free market can't do 

South Sudan: A Libertarian Utopia

"After hearing Republican presidential candidates denounce big government and burdensome regulation, I’d like to invite them to spend the night here in the midst of the civil war in South Sudan."

Yes, government should be no bigger than necessary for a just and healthy society, and also be efficient.  However, ponder this logical extension of extreme libertarianism.

‘Big Government’ Looks Great When There Is None