What I Believe

I had been tempted to title this little essay, What Do You Believe? But I quickly came to the conclusion that I don’t give a rat’s ass about what many other people believe since so much of it is bizarre crap. That list includes people who are creationists, young Earthers, climate change deniers, conspiracy theorists, bible thumping fundamentalists, occultists, chem-trail whackos, anti-vaccine peddlers, paranormal activity enthusiasts, GMO opponents, white nationalists/white supremacists, misogynists, racists, nativist immigrant haters, pederasts—especially those in ministerial ranks, Rush Limbaugh supporters, Trumpers and other right-wingnuts like Pat Buchanan and Sean Hannity, libertarian ideologues, LGBTQ opponents, Ayn Rand fanatics, Grover Norquist inspired anti-taxers, etc. And I can’t forget followers of Michel Foucault, Peter Berger, Thomas Luckmann, Jean Baudrillard, Paul Feyerabend, and many other postmodern intellectuals who reject objective knowledge.

In particular, I want to call out those who are convinced that mere belief trumps all requirements for facts or evidence. Here I mean people who have lost their grip on reason and, thus, reality and have fallen into the pit of magical thinking, no matter how revered they may be in academia. I especially reject dirty political tricks, immigrant bashing, gerrymandering, demagoguery, and vote suppression practiced by any political party or candidate.

Here’s what I believe; be warned this list is not in any particular order of importance and is far from inclusive.

Reason

Objective evidence/facts

Left-Wing politics

Science

Science-based skepticism

Creation science and the Young Earth Theory are shameless nonsense

“Fortune favors the prepared mind” -- Louis Pasteur

Evolution

Global warming/climate change

Fairness/justice

Equality

Liberty/freedom

Civil liberties

Family

Love

Friendship

Moral behavior

Individual responsibility matters but is not the only factor of importance.
Determiniation to succeed
Hard work
Determination and hard work are as important as native intelligence.
Human decency

White supremacy/white privilege helped me throughout my life.
Community

Tolerance

Altruism

Helping those in need

Competition

Sportsmanship

Feminism

Gender equality

Labor unions

Individual privacy is a Constitutional right.

The USA Patriot Act should be removed from law.

The US Supreme Court has always been highly politicized.

Citizens United v. FEC should be overturned

Environmentalism/Conservation of natural resources

Systematic kindness is laudable and not that random acts bullshit.

Private property rights never take precedence over human rights.

The use of force is seldom a legitimate method of conflict resolution.

Confirming the validity of what you believe

Regretting past hurtful acts is a sign of hard-won maturity.

People who express and define themselves lead more meaningful lives.

Only constrained markets have existed; free markets never have.

Trickle-down economics is a myth that justifies inequality.

Progressive income taxes rule

Estate tax

Politicians should be willing to compromise to get things done.

Euthanasia should be legalized.
The primary role of capitalism is to ensure the moneyed class gets more while all other classes get less.

The death penalty should be abolished.

The Second Amendment should be shitcanned.

Single-payer, government health care should be available for all.

Religious expression has no place in government.

Marriage is between two people in love, regardless of gender.

Welfare is a safety net providing for the needs of the poor.

A country is judged by the way it treats the powerless.

Openness to new experiences is highly desirable.

Conscientiousness is a highly desirable trait.

Liberals are more emotionally expressive, gregarious, and impulsive than conservatives.

People should be open to challenging authority.
George W. Bush and Barack Obama allowed torturers to go unpunished.
Barack Obama allowed the Wall Street oligarchs who created the Great Recession to go unpunished.

Like Immanuel Kant, I believe geography is critical to knowledge.

Although now, for a great many Americans, factual truth is just one option, it isn’t for me since opinion never trumps fact/evidence. I’m happy to belong to what Karl Rove mocked as the reality-based community. I am proud of living in a rational world. I reject those who think they have the freedom to make up shit on the spur of the moment and present it to the gullible public as an alternative reality worthy of consideration. I strongly repudiate the terms post-factual and post-truth and those who pollute the world with such scurrilous nonsense.

When you think about it, what I don’t believe is as important as the other side of that coin. Here’s a partial listing.

I don’t believe Barack Obama was born in Kenya.

Based on his actions as President, I don't believe Barack Obama was honorable or trustworthy.

Based on her actions as a Senator and Secretary of State, I don't believe Hilary Clinton was honorable or trustworthy.

I don’t believe Donald Trump won the popular vote in 2016.

Based on his actions before and after becoming President, I don’t believe Donald Trump is honorable or trustworthy.

Telepathy, extrasensory perception, ghosts, and reincarnation are myths.

Saddam Hussein was never involved in the 9/11 attack.

George W. Bush intentionally lied to Americans about Iraq.

I reject rugged individualism, rigidity, intolerance, zero-sum thinking, xenophobia, people overly enamored with rules and authority, and those with a strong social dominance orientation.

I don’t believe sexual orientation is a choice or a lifestyle.

Sales taxes are an anchor dragging poor people down.

I laugh out loud when people claim that aliens have visited our planet and built the pyramids, Chichén-Itzá, or the Nazca geoglyphs.

I don’t believe that the U.N. or a secretive global elite are trying to create a New World Order and destroy democracy.

Vampires, witches, werewolves, and angels are silly myths.

And, lastly, I really, really don’t believe in and actively detest the conservative ideal of American Exceptionalism.

In my heart of hearts, I firmly believe the unexamined life is not worth living and that it’s far more important to live a meaningful life than to be happy.