This is probably why science standards in so many American school systems are lacking: it’s just that dangerous to the establishment in so many places.
One of the reasons why Germany always had social democratic structures in its political economy is because prior to unification, it was a series of little principalities and kingdoms, each with its own customs agency.
In order to get goods from the landlocked principalities to the sea, merchants had to get their goods across national borders– and yes, deal with the customs when each border was crossed. Some nobles along the Rhine were notorious for charging very high duties to pass through their territory, and these nobles were given the name “Robber Barons.”
To deal with all that custom bureaucracy, the nobles needed a literate population, and they educated their people.
But as their people became more educated, the more they demanded from their rulers, and that’s one reason why the Germans developed the social democratic culture centuries before it became implemented elsewhere.
The American economy now requires very well-educated workers. We are no longer in an economy that can hire large numbers of people for manufacturing jobs. Technology has made a lot of manufacturing jobs obsolete, but technology also means that there are great opportunities.
To fill those opportunities, we need to have a very well-educated workforce.
The problem is that a well-educated workforce will not accept thing the way they are.
And that’s the really the big conflict. People who understand how to think skeptically are very hard to govern, even if they are also the people you need to have a prosperous economy.
That’s one reason why I think the great progressive struggle right now must be the struggle for rationalism and skeptical inquiry.
You cannot lecture to people what the truth is. You must give them the tools to figure out for themselves.
And trust me, most people can figure it out once they learn how to use their brains.
