Comments by "Harry Mills" (@harrymills2770) on "How Online Atheist Communities Birthed the Modern Right" video.

  1. An atheist living by two principles: Life is Good. I am not God. will arrive at a moral/ethical framework that's pretty acceptable and untainted by religious dogma. The RNC is NOT reading the room. They're appealing to a regressive right that they already own, rather than making any attempt to appeal to a broad middle that rejects authoritarianism from BOTH major parties. They're not rejecting authoritarianism. They're promoting authoritarianism that agrees with them. You see this in the public schools. They're not rejecting public school indoctrination. They just want to CONTROL the indoctrination. Rainbow flags bad. Pledge of Allegiance good. "Woke is crazy; therefore, believe in my interpretation of Sky God's Will." Most of us are neither woke nor "Believe in Sky God or you're evil."
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  2.  @michaelkistner6286  The non-force principle that is so dear to libertarians is easily derived from "Life is good." If by non-conformity, you mean acting against the life or property of another human being, that is the only exception to the non-force principle: Someone who has used force to deprive another person of life, liberty or property is subject to the use of force against them.
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  3. I would be classified as "far right" for simply being a classical liberal. Big government is far right. Liberals who push for big government are illiberal. Big government is the modern equivalent of Divine Right of Kings: "I will care for you. In return, you will obey me in all things."
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  4.  @mistersharpe4375  There's Magna-Carta monarchy and Divine Right of Kings monarchy. The latter form sticks its nose into anything it wants. The former type has its authority strictly circumscribed by the rights of the people and responsibilities of the monarch. Monarchies didn't have the technology of today, or they would have become just as obtrusive (and just as hated) as the technocracy of the current era. It was less a philosophical difference and more of a technical means difference. Even the most totalitarian states of today are essentially free-market capitalist. In China, you still bargain with the street vendor for your fish and produce. There isn't some CCP official standing there, overseeing every transaction. That's the biggest joke about communism. Yes, they take over anything they want, but the top-down stuff has practical limits, beyond which, transactions are the same as they have ever been. Every time a socialist American goes to the grocery store, they're admitting that free-market capitalism and voluntary transactions are the way the world actually works. Intrusions by the government, however heavy-handed they may seem, are really only a sticky, gooey, overlay. A distorting force, but not really a controlling force.
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  5.  @kevinchang1371  You should maybe watch that old British dude. David... Starkey! That's it! Starkey argues (correctly) that the American president is our monarch. I would argue (correctly?) that the monarch of whom you speak is in fact the American president, constrained by a constitution inspired in large part by Magna Carta, but also Germanic and Native American tribal traditions and attitudes. "Yes, you're the chief. For now. Until you break our law or do something stupid or we simply think you have bad medicine." "After 4 failed raids, his followers melted into the forest, and only 3 of his closest friends remained."
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  6. I recommend David Starkey's "Monarchy." A history of Britain. It's a video series on YouTube.
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  7. You're putting a lot of things together, on your own spiritual journey that I was on 30 years ago. You're better scholars than I was at your age, but I've got a 30-year head start. Thoughtful MAGA and thoughtful Progressives aren't that far apart on the big issues. They see eye-to-eye on war (bad) and peace (good). The main gripe between the two is that MAGA sees the same ills of society as the progressives, but progressives believe that more control by people who think like them is the way to go, while MAGA believes that the least harm is through the most liberty. I think the compromise is some of the socialism the progressives want, but closer to home, and voluntary, which the MAGA want. Upset about the state of health care? You have control. Don't cry because somebody else doesn't do it or doesn't want to pay for your version of it.
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