Material Advances of the West:
- airplanes, jets, helicopters.
- bathrooms with showers, toilets, sinks.
- cars
- computers
- email, texting, chats, video calls.
- environmental protection: clean water, clean air, clean land in a fully industrialized economy populated by hundreds of millions of human beings.
- heat and light in every home.
- hot showers
- houses, schools, churches, malls, office buildings, restaurants, and a myriad of other structures created to order or stamped out like widgets.
- indoor plumbing
- industrial farming, manufacturing, mining.
- kitchens with refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, stoves.
- libraries: Soon every person in the world will have access to every book, essay, story, and textbook that has ever been written. Future libraries will have the lectures of all the great teachers. Any person anywhere in the world will be able to study any subject for little or no cost.
- light bulbs
- networks: Incomparable networks for banking, communications, garbage collection, governing, health care, the internet, military defense, policing, retail sales, transportation, water & sanitation.
- records, 8-track tapes, cassette tapes, CDs, MP3s, streaming.
- roads, railway lines, airports, shipping ports, highways, subways, bike lanes, sidewalks.
- telescopes, rockets, spaceships.
- running water. hot and cold.
- satellites
- ships, submarines, speed boats, barges.
- skyscrapers
- smart phones
- trains
- trucks, buses, subways, commuter rail lines.
Spiritual Advances of the West:
- Democracy: Every person may vote for a representative who votes in the body which makes laws. Vote for the ideas and persons you believe in. Run for office. Petition the government for new laws. Protest objectionable laws or government actions.
- God: Monotheism and faith. If you are predisposed to love life, and if you are not straitjacketed by science, you will naturally unite your life with God. You will believe in God and love God and seek to please him. One God serves all. One God created all. Even your mortal enemies were made by the same God. Slay them only if it will substantially reduce evil.
- God: Practice any religion you choose. Practice none.
- God: The state and church are separated. Live free from a religion imposed by the state. Individuals choose a religion. A state has no religion and favors no religion.
- God: War. Should society fall into depravity, God commands you to destroy evil and those who promote it.
- Government is dedicated to protecting individuals from lawbreakers — whether individual, mob, or state. Government is dedicated to protecting individuals, not enriching and glorifying the powerful. The individual, by his vote, governs the state.
- Guns: Citizens are free to own firearms to protect themselves from criminals and mobs and the state.
- Individualism: Government is formed to protect individuals. Government does not serve the powerful and wealthy. Government serves individuals both rich and poor.
- Individuality: You want to do something that has never been done before? You are welcome here. If it doesn’t hurt anybody except yourself, go ahead. Give it a try.
- Invention: The individual is encouraged to try out their own ideas. They can patent them. They can copyright them. Almost every great work of art or science is the work of one person, and entirely dependent upon the work of countless writers, philosophers, teachers.
- Reason, logic, the scientific method: Knowledge begins with empirical evidence. Seek truth free from prejudice. Run an experiment to verify your hypothesis. Invent anything the physical laws of the universe support.
- Rule of law. The law applies equally to rich and poor. Laws apply equally to all persons. The law cannot separate citizens into a caste or a class. Kings do not decide what is right. The law, created by an elected government, and a jury, decide what is right.
- Schooling: Children are required to pursue and receive without charge an education through the age of 18.
- Slavery: Abolished. The West has ended a barbaric practice which originated with the beginning of the human race.
- Speech: Free speech. The best ideas cannot be outlawed. Argument among adversaries strengthens the ideas of both sides. An individual with a unique perspective cannot be silenced by the state, and especially when he is a critic of the state.
- Women are free to vote, work, go to school, live independently, marry or stay single, own property, save money, start a business, pursue political office. A woman’s rights are equal to a man’s rights.
The Right Track Magazine 