Freedom is not safe

And why do you think that is? Cuz you libertarians are exercising your sacred Second Amendment rights by giving every sociopathic nutjob in the country the weapons to massacre them.

Home schools are only as good as the teacher, which in your case I assume is you. My neighbor's housekeeper who probably didn't finish high school is trying to home school her kids while working full time to support them. Not working out.

 

Sal Khan is a pretty good teacher.

Khan Academy | Free Online Courses, Lessons & Practice

 

So the alternative to libertarianism and the robber barons is Chinese Communism. Whatabout a mixed economy and liberal democracy, like they have in, say, Scandanavia or western Europe?

 

. Environmental recalcitrance, the relative authority being trained scientists, the recalcitrant being those who have the power to alter behavior; Inequity / disparity in resource / monetary distribution / ownership; continuing racial attitudes and / or denial of such; the recent discovery that a lack of critical thinking skills / education -(?) pervades a certain percentage of our population and is exacerbated on a daily basis by self interested media; our population driven farther and farther apart by factors mentioned; our system of laws which need enforcement equally; the fragility of our democracy when tested, as is happening presently. --------Those are some of my thoughts on your question--------

 

Don't forget the violent world of the office environment. It's hell out there!

 

Sal Khan's teaching qualities have mixed reviews. He seems to be particularly good in math and science, but some find his delivery a bit dry. The New Math Teacher Does he come into your home, or do you just play the videos for your kids? Please excuse me if I'm a bit skeptical that a former hedge fund/finance person with no teaching credentials can do an adequate job trying to teach everything from physics to art history. Of course, there is no consensus on what constitutes good education. Catholic schools are often praised for their excellent teaching and they seem to do a better job than public schools in the basics of readin', writin' & 'rithmetic. I can say from personal experience that they're also excellent disciplinarians. They also do a good job in indoctrination, and I don't think that's such a good thing.What will the kids do for higher education? Praeger University?

My limited experience with home schooling comes from friends who are doing it. They fall into two categories: staunch Christians who don't want their kids exposed to secular demonic influences and yuppies who are prepping their kids to be the great leaders of tomorrow. The problem I see with both is lack of socialization with diverse populations and lack of exposure to diverse opinions. Some parents go out of their way to arrange social activities with other kids--mostly those of other home schoolers. But since one of their main goals is to shield their children from exposure to the "wrong kind" of other kids, this simply reinforces an insular outlook. You say your kids "learn to associate with people of all age groups". Do they also learn to associate with people of all races, religions and political ideologies? How do they learn that? From your description of their idyllic education, it sounds like you and/or other people have lots of time to devote to this enterprise, something my neighbor's housekeeper doesn't have. Also, in many states there is little or no regulation of home schooling, so my neighbor's housekeeper can just let the kids school themselves, which seems to be what she's doing--and they're out of control. Again, basic values shine through: me and mine first, my freedom, I'm all right Jack, too bad about you or the rest of society. I'm concerned that such an approach will further balkanize our society, and that at some point it will collapse. Hope you and your kids survive.

 

It occurs to me that the rise of home schooling parallels another trend that I think has been detrimental to our society: narrowcasting. Back in the day, when the U.S. was a model of democratic stability, our news was dominated by three broadcasting networks, and all three were governed by the fairness doctrine which required them to present controversial views and to do so in a manner that was fair and balanced. Ronald Reagan abolished that in 1987, giving Americans the freedom to live in their own ideological bubbles--giving rise to NBC cable news and Fox, which under the solgan fair and balanced gives their consumers a steady stream of distortions--Fox particularly flagrant in this regard. In fact, they recently won a lawsuit for falsehoods spread by their commentor Tucker Carlson on grounds that no reasonable person would believe the things he says. The late Senator Moynihan once said “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” But since then, we've gotten the idea that we're each entitled to our own facts, as well. Freedom! And the right to our own facts, unchallenged, I think, is one of the major developments contributing to our current decline.

 

Would pictures of Centralia massacre of IWW protesters look any better? Or Kent State, or the Las Vegas shooting, or any of the hundreds of shootings by good old boys just exercising their 2nd amendment “rights”. But for a bit of luck, January 6th would have been an ugly bloodbath.

 

Or... It could be like you're a tree in a forest, unable to see past your neighboring trees in the immediate area. Of course, I could be wrong; unlike yourself so secure in your own tribal fallacies.
Whatever you do, don't watch Newsmax or so much as look at anything your tribe labels right wing or libertarian evil because as you start to enlighten yourself then your worldview could start to collapse and your last recourse to stay in good favor with your tribe would be cognitive dissonance. And it ain't pretty. At least it's more dignified to remain in your bubble and not break character.

 

Hehe yup, either the frozen kind or the chemical kind.
It's so bizarre because us actual hippies, who were hippies back when hippies were first a thing, stood for freedom. We just wanted to not be fucked with, to live and let live. A lot of these neo-hippies are just bleeding heart injustice whiners whose lives are too easy and government dependence partakers, essentially enslaved to "the man" who we wanted off our backs. They think because they like to get doped up, that makes them "hippies".
Pathetic.

 

That's a great measure, but I think you'll find that a libertarian approach to solving social problems caters more to those who don't experience them.

Without taxes, you've a massive population below the poverty line with no way to assist them.

 

I routinely assist those below the poverty line without any help from taxes, however a more permanent solution than assistance would be to correctly identify the root causes of their poverty and to eliminate those root causes.

 

Ok. that's good! Charitable contribution goes a little ways.

But how effective do you think it is? Simply leaving the matter to a choice made by an individual leaves to many behind.

 

If you want peace, you have to start with your own heart.

 

Just a bandaid. Root causes must be addressed. We need immigration reform and we need to end the drug war.