Some of those Pesky Facts

In the new world of “alternative” facts, it is worth remembering some of the undeniable facts of which conservatives and Republicans so often disapprove:

• The government of the United States is divided into three equal powers; the judiciary is NOT just a rubber stamp for Congress or the President. 
• Running a large country and economy is complicated, and doing it well requires real knowledge and experience. 
• Republicans don’t actually know anything more than anybody else does about business or public finance. 
• Among wealthier and more developed economies, socialized medicine is normal; the U.S. is a rare exception. 
• Budget deficits matter. 
• Cutting taxes does NOT raise revenue. 
• It is the nature of unregulated Capitalism to produce economic instability in the form of alternating cycles of boom and bust. 
• Corporations cannot always be trusted to be good citizens. 
• Most U.S. manufacturing jobs did not go “offshore;” they were eliminated globally by automation. 
• Jobs that pay well generally require employees with higher levels of education. 
• Charter schools and vouchers don’t automatically provide children with a better education. 
• The vast majority of undocumented immigrants come here to work. 
• U.S. laws and government are NOT based on the Bible; nothing even vaguely resembling a constitutional republic, universal suffrage, trial by jury, or a Bill of Rights can be found there. 
• The United States was consciously designed to be a secular state. 
• Neither scientific facts nor the scientific method change with political party. 
• Global warming is real and is caused to a large degree by human activity. 
• The most effective means for reducing abortion is to make sure everyone has affordable access to birth control and has medically accurate sexual education before puberty. 
• No, the nuclear family is not a universal aspect of all cultures in all times. 
• It is natural and normal for human populations to contain many variations within the categories of sex, gender, and sexuality. 
• Much of what you think you know about gender, race and ethnicity is an arbitrary fantasy invented by the culture in which you grew up.