Some things are self-evident as in the declaration of independence...

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   jackclee lmposted 5 years ago

   “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...”
   
   In 2018, there are some self-evident truths...
   Here is my list. Feel free to add to this list...
   
   1. The main stream media is biased and have a double standard when dealing with politicians.
   They support or protect Democrats and rail against Republicans.
   
   2. Our public education system, especially in the large cities, are broken. They fail to fulfill their basic responsibility of teaching our next generation the basics of Math and English and Civics...
   
   3. Colleges and universities are a bastion of liberalism. The free exchange of ideas are non-existent. The free speech zone is a joke. Conservatives are silenced by protests and violence. They are disinvited to give talks. This climate only existed in Nazi Germany and communist countries.
   
   4. Organized religion is on the decline. It was orchestrated over many years and over generations. Millennials have the highest rate of leaving the church. It goes hand in hand with a progressive, liberal agenda that is taught in high school and colleges. The ACLU among a few others are behind this conspiracy. They want to create a new world order where the State rules over all.
   
   5. Elections and people who run for office are fixed. It cost way too much and only a handful of peple can participate. They are well funded by lobbyist and special interest groups. Once elected, it is very hard to unseat them. Over 90% of incumbents win re-election even though all polls show the credibility and approval rates of Congress is in the low teens. How come?
   
   6. Our infrastucture of roads and bridges and airports and docks are on the decline. They were supposed to be maintained by road and gas taxes collected all along. Instead. The money was miss spent and now they need more tax dollars to pay for something that should have been already paid for. It is called double dipping.
   
   7. Our national debt is killing us slowly. It is over 21 Trillion dollars and rising. Both parties talk about elliminating waste and fraud... yet our spending continues and many are open ended. Some budget items are liabilities that Congress enacted. We have Obamacare, medicaid SNAP and all kinds of entitlements...for the poor. Yet, our population are growing poorer. How come?
   It is by design. They want the people dependent and voting democratic for these giveaways...

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      Live to Learnposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Most of this is our own fault. So, I guess those things we believe to be self evident we believe we are entitled to, through no effort of our own.

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         jackclee lmposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         It is not my fault. I have been talking and working against these problems all my adult life. I am beginning to see some daylight... I have spoken to some millennials and they actually agree with me and are leaning conservative... there is light at the end of the tunnel...

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            Sytel Viposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Well said. What are your thoughts on the current startup culture around the world?

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               jackclee lmposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               It is a good sign. More people around the world, including Chinese in Red China, are embracing capitalism as a path to wealth and prosperity...
               The only people praising Marx and socialism are liberal professors around our campuses...especially in light of recent development in Venezuela and Argentina and Cuba...
               We are seeing a train wreck when a failed socialist systems take hold.

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                  Sytel Viposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                  Seems like the entire world is experiencing a startup chaos?

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   wildernessposted 5 years ago

   4)  While it is certainly true that organized religion is dying, I'm not sure at all that the rest of the statement is "self-evident" at all.
   
   Mankind has grown and matured over decades, generations and millenia.  It has grown mentally (as in knowledge and understanding) and it has matured morally.  The church, on the other hand, has not - instead it has done its best to limit that growth in favor of the beliefs and morals of centuries past.  As a result it consistently lags far behind society in general in all of these areas and is why it is dying. 
   
   Not because a liberal "agenda" is taught in schools and certainly not because the ACLU wants state rule over all, but because the teachings and demands of the church remain stuck in the distant past.

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      jackclee lmposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      I disagree. If mankind has progressed so much as you claim, why are we suffering with so many problems such as diviorces, broken family, drug abuse, crime and poor education and low skilled workers...
      
      My believe is that Religion played an important role of keeping family in tact and providing the stability and framework for a functioning society...
      Once we lost that, there is no moral compass. Anything goes... and look what has it taken us.
      Can you honestly say, we are better off today as a society?

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         wildernessposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Do you think all ills will suddenly disappear overnight?  Do you think morals will remain stataic forever, even as we watch them change? 
         
         I believe you are correct; organized religion played a part in keeping families together.  They also played a part (a huge part) in the murder or millions, in the murders of gays, blacks, indians; pretty much anyone that didn't bow to their god.
         
         Yes, look where it has taken us: women are first class citizens now, equal to men everywhere (except inside the church).  Those with a different sexuality are accepted as people, not freaks to kill.  Outside of Islam, I know of no group carrying out wholesale murder and war in the name of religion. 
         
         As we lost the witch hunts, the inquisition, the crusades, the forced "conversion" to Christianity or Islam, as women became people in their own right, as children are no longer considered property to do with as parents might wish, as gay people can lead a more normal life...I could go on pretty much forever, but you get the point.  As those things changed - led by society, not the church - are we not better off?
         
         None of which has anything to do with the ACLU wanting total government control or with any "orchestration" to kill off religion.  I repeat: that is a normal, natural event caused by the church, not by any nefarious machinations of the ACLU or anyone else.  Except, of course, that the churches iron control has been under attack.  Here in the US, in the middle East and most other places the fist of religion has been attacked as people demand the freedom to worship (or not) as they wish, not as the local priesthood wishes they would.

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            jackclee lmposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            You make a good point but that is not what Christianity or Buddhism are today. It may be radical Islam that uses force and violence to convert... Religion has changed over the decades and it takes time... that is the saving grace. We can evolve changes as with dealing with women and gays... but not radical changes. Just take a look at South Africa today and you see what happens when change happens too quickly before it is ready. Regardless how justified it may be, change can be a source of turmoil.
            
            My point being, the church has a place in our society for thousand of years. It was communism and later progressives that outlawed Religion and took God away from its people. Now we see some of the effects. I do blame the ACLU for their actions. They chose to use the legal method and the courts to force religion out of the public square which it was always a part of since our founding.
            
            The strange part about the ACLU is that they seem to focus on Christianity exclusively. They have no problem with other religions like Islam and Buddhism or new age religious cults.
            Once you take away the underpinnings of morality, guess what, you get chaos. that is what we see today sadly...

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               wildernessposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               You are correct - many religions have grown and matured from what they were.  Even Islam, although as a group it still has further to go than most.
               They still lag behind society, but they have grown some.
               
               EVERY change is a "radical change" to the priesthood, for virtually any change threatens the chains they have on the people.  And when those changes are specifically about turning slaves and demons (women, gays) into people in their own right it cuts right to the core.
               
               Yes, when it comes to denying personal liberties in this country, it is Christianity, not Islam, Buddhism, paganism, voodoo or any other religion that the ACLU find disturbing for it is Christianity that is by far the largest and doing by far the most damage to people.  But it isn't some kind of pogrom to eliminate religion; it is the long, slow job of freeing people from their chains.  If the church wishes to call that an attack on the church, well, I guess it is in a way.
               
               No need to take away the underpinnings, and we aren't doing that.  What we ARE doing is pruning the branches, cutting away the deadwood that served only to demonize simple people that harm no one.  Shaving away the chains that religion insists belong on everyone, and for no more reason that it reinforces the power of the church.  Just as Hitler did - same methodology - a "goat" is often needed to inflame people, and we are slowly eliminating the "goats" in favor of welcoming them to the human race.  And, when we find a whole tree that is a lie, we cut it down even as the church waters and fertilizes it.  The earth was not created 5,000 years ago, and those giant bones were not buried in the earth by Satan to confuse us.
               
               One day, if they are to survive, the church will come to the same conclusion; we are ALL people under the skin.  Not second class women, not demons of different sexual preferences and not even the devil incarnate with a sexuality different than their biology.  That it refuses to give up its "goats" will surely result in the churches death; best that it do so whether the specific god of a specific religion likes it or not.  It's even going to have to give up some of its most precious fables in favor of knowledge and truth.

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