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.

There is a fundamental difference in thinking between the independent-minded and the dependent-minded — as well as the faithful and atheistic. 

When I come from a place of abundance and wholeness, acting in service to others is a natural result, after all, 'my cup runneth over.'  But if I come from a place of fear, desperation, and lack, it is relatively unfathomable to consider giving of what little I have when I am in such dire need myself.

This highlights the Spiritual path.  Without a sacred view, indeed the world looks to be a dark place.  And frankly, no amount of legislation can ever fix that.

My reaction after reading this quote again many years after posting my initial comments is that while we must have the right to a free conscience — that is to say the right to think for oneself — we are never 'free' from the consequences of those thoughts and the words and actions that may spring from them.

I must be able to make mistakes if I am ever to learn from them.  Society in general does try to help me not make really bad mistakes with potentially fatal consequences, but I suppose if I want to be free, I have to be willing to take responsibility, too.

I like the words of Jiminy Cricket who served as Pinocchio's 'conscience':

“A conscience is that still small voice that people won't listen to. That’s just the trouble with the world today, you see.”

I meant to bring attention to this bit: "this will be a century of authority, a century of the Left, a century of Fascism."  Even Mussolini knew fascism was on the Left!  Fascists are leftists!  So, I suppose on Mussolini's scale, classic Liberalism is on the Right... Today, though, I would say Liberalism in the original sense is above left and right and is the true guiding star for a free people.

The Germans were all for fascism when they elected Hitler, too.  Reason #768 why democracy was despised by the Founders of a republican form of government.  Every dictatorial fascist/communist government was established through socialist democracy — see Nicaragua for the latest flavor.  The platitudes of socialism are very attractive to an uneducated populace, and the results are always the same... 

America may be too far gone now.  Without a people raised in republican virtues, even a revolution would not help, because as soon as the dust settles, the same statist form would be rebuilt.

The biggest political hit job ever pulled off is to equate 'the right' with Hitler.  Hitler's fascism was only to the right of Lenin's communism — both are versions of socialism/collectivism.  The entire left-right spectrum is on the collectivist scale — true republican, representative government is not even on it.  Individualism is at the top of a triangle, collectivism/statism is the base.

If the author was unknown for this quote, it would be 100% embraced by the Democrat Party today (and many Republicans, unfortunately).

Absolutely true.  Whenever a sound argument against socialism is made, inevitably the proponent of socialism will say that 'true socialism' has never been tried or properly implemented, when in truth, the false promises of socialism have been tried many, many times and failed miserably.  Hundreds of millions of people have been murdered by their own governments for not bowing to the party line. 

The key to a socialist revolution is an uneducated youth and nihilistic adults that would rather burn it all down than take responsibility for the conditions and qualities of their own lives.