"Don't you dare learn to think for yourself!"

Ah, the celebration of ignorance continues.  It is one thing, however, for adults to assert their right to be stupid if they wish.  Although every ignorant American harms the rest of us by, in any of several ways, inflicting the consequences of their stupidity on the rest of us, in the end we have to admit that if an adult wants to know nothing, then they will do so.  And while it is scary to ponder the number of them who take pride in their ignorance, it is even more frightening when they want to insist that their children should also be raised to be stupid.  Yes, enter the Texas Republican Party - working hard to both out-pace the stupidity of the Republican my own home State of Florida.  On with the race to the bottom.  Yes, if the Texas Republicans have their way, the stupid parents will be the main source of information for their children.  Does anyone really believe that parents know best?  Have you looked around lately?  This whole idea stems from the idea that somehow children are the "property" of their parents and just like a parent might decide to let the weeds grow six feet high (or even worse do one of those take the grass out and put stone down - painted green of course) they should also decide to pass on their desire to know nothing.  And if that is not enough for you, the Texas Republicans follow that up by saying schools should not teach students to think critically - after all that might lead to things like realizing your parents and their idea are stupid, that they might come to question the question the indoctrination they received as parents and that, God forbid, that might undercut their parents' authority to force them to continue the tradition of ignorance.  It is not an accident that this mirrors the larger issues in our society - the notion of a parental society.  Funny how those who decry what they call a "nanny State" also what to act to ensure that future generations remain subject to the intellectual and emotional limits of their forebears.

If we want to understand what is going wrong with America (but, damn, that takes critical thinking skills) we might look to ideas that promulgate the notion that parents are justified in making their children little versions of themselves - you know, the same people that got us here.