The captain of a mutinous crew can do no better.  Trump has really tried to restore so much of the republican ideal, but the Deep State is indeed deeply entrenched.  We will need several successive 'captains' to right the ship and hang a few mutinous traitors along the way...

JW, you're not all wrong here ...

I am more in agreement with this than I was in my youth.  However, the amount of blood shed between so-called 'Christians' throughout history has given Christianity a bad name. Never-the-less the teachings and example of Jesus have ever been the foundation of Western Civilization — knowing the Truth shall make you free has been the spark of Liberty in the founding of the USA.

Regarding the bio for John Jay, he was the 'President' of the Confederation when the Declaration of Independence was signed making him the first President of the united States of America before a Constitution was ratified.  The US Constitution followed years later under which George Washington was the first President of the United States.

What does it tell us that every effort is made to reduce religion to superstitious folly while it is replaced with the most violent and debauched, secularist authoritarianism?  IMO it is self-evident ...

The only way for a government to cause affluence is to get out of the way and stop debasing the currency.  All else is designed to yoke the productive to cause affluence for the state and the politburo.

😂 

Groupthink is never innovative and most often represents the lowest common denominator to satisfy the status quo.

Works for me!

Mike, if Webster is referring to "we" as the representative government tasked with navigating tumultuous waters, then I would have to agree that holding fast to the Constitution as the guide is the best course of action.

Indeed.

Cheeky, but in reality, typical politicians have entire teams preparing their thoughts in advance so that they never depart from the party line. The most successful politicians are those that promote those talking points flawlessly — the arguments never have to be logical or even true, only that they deliver their lines with an Oscar-winning performance.

I get it.  The source for the quote is Spengler's 'The Decline of the West,' and this quote sums up that decline very well. 

The responses from Western nations' governments and their citizens during the Covid pandemic is a perfect example.  Since then, the freedom to think and to express those thoughts has been highly politicized and practically criminalized.  The decline of the West indeed!

Looking at the US Department of Education, this apparently is not an accident.  The dumbing down of Americans has been a concerted effort by the statists ever since they usurped the Constitutional government of the USA.  The idea that the Constitution is a 'living document' is a far cry from its original intent as a rule book for the government, to be strictly observed, granting no powers not specifically enumerated.

Yes, Warren, most Americans do not know who they are and what the Founders bequeathed to us.  We have a republic only if we can keep it — which is hard to do, if you don't even know what that is.

Every time someone successfully exercises their freedom, liberty is strengthened for all.

"Think globally, act locally."

A brand on whose imagination? Censorship never countered with the truth it obscures will forever serve as the yoke it was intended to be.  The revelation of truth is the greatest liberator of humankind, and is the eternal enemy and destroyer of the deceivers.

Great distinction, Mike!

Absolutely!  Hence the misery and poverty of every communist/authoritarian country.

In other words, freedom is the option to NOT act like an automaton and actually think before acting.

"Diversity" has become such a politicized word that its use today is almost always for justifying discrimination against white, straight males in the name of 'equity.'  Diversity of thought is actually not protected at all — it's either accept the anti-fascist, anti-colonial redefinitions or be pummeled by the mob for 'racism.'

To consider the content of one's character, skills and experience is now taboo.  I mean how many black, lesbian, communists does it take to balance the scale?  Good grief, I don't think it will ever be enough.

My right to think is inalienable — that doesn't mean everything I think is right. 😉

Mike and Robert are right that such a statement can be corrupted to usurp power as well.  Any statement can be corrupted to mean its opposite.  So I will give John Stuart Mill the benefit of the doubt, and I agree wholeheartedly.

"The one thing that all educationalists would agree on and that is religion inhibits growth of the mind."  Really?  I suppose it depends on your definition of 'educationalists' (do you mean 'teachers'?).

"Home schooling is OK if there [sic] parents are secular and Liberal progressives they understand not to teach their opinions and beliefs." Really? 🤣 Wow. Sounds like those progressive liberals really did a number on you.

The truth can stand on its own.  IMO 'education' is the study of reality, and the student that truly seeks the truth does not need to be 'educated,' only to learn how to discern.  There is no shortage of 'educationalists' pushing their narrow view of reality.  It is the student's responsibility to put it all to the test in order to arrive at the real.  Anyone still espousing authoritarian progressive liberalism has obviously ignored the history which demonstrates the absolute failure of such utopian 'godless' doctrines.  Take off the blinders, and 'see'!

I find it interesting that the objectives of spiritual insight are to 'awaken' out of a false reality — to restore sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, mobility to the lame, sanity to the 'possessed,' and life to the walking dead. 

Secular, progressive liberals make a clear argument for God through the demonstration of their erroneous, fallacious, hypocritical, and deluded principles (or lack thereof).  They are their own worse enemies. 😉

Yeah, so... we are doomed. 😎

You mean like "the science is settled" climate crisis crowd? Or the origin of the Covid pandemic epicenter was a Wuhan market?  Or the Deep State coup d'etat? 

"Mistake-proof" propaganda and censorship is still widespread, all propped up by a complicit media and the politicians that benefit from it.  We were never supposed to 'trust' the government — that's why we have multiple checks and balances and a Constitution that did not grant unlimited and unchecked power but strictly enumerated powers, all else being reserved by the People.