I really liked the way the article started with “I don’t have a faith or religion…” although this is, currently and unfortunately, a minority view in the United States of America. The United States of America ranks high on the dysfunctional society scale and the rank in religiosity is also a significantly high flyer relative to other advanced nations. I will not claim causation, but I think something to do with the religious mindset of authoritarianism, dogma, cognitive dissonance, lack of critical thinking skills in all things, the tendency to be exclusive instead of inclusive and lack of healthy inquiry and willingness to seek to learn in all subjects with free thinking could very well be an underlying detrimental factor of major significance. I believe if the country had not been so infected relatively recently with an uptick of this religious mindset, starting around the 1950’s and the cold war era where “godless communists” was used as a major talking point, where “In god we Trust” was put on paper money as the country’s new motto, where “…one nation indivisible…” was replaced with “…one nation under god…” in the pledge of allegiance, as examples, that this country could very well have had a much higher probability of still being much more highly regarded as “…the bright shining beacon that inspires the rest of the world…” in all things with the same ethos that the space shuttle inspires the rest of the world as a bright shining beacon. If well over ninety-five percent of the political leaders feel the need and advantage to claim religion and to pander to the religious, then the bell-curve ostensibly is not natural and there are special causes that could be addressed to make this country more inclusive and cooperative, I suspect. The space shuttle was a HUGE and impressive machine and is on the right track of the type of inspiration that indicates a healthy system. If we-the-people could apply noble principles to all aspects of society at all levels (I’m thinking infrastructure, education, space shuttles, and good thinking), and work together towards progress (instead of regress), then this country could be closer to the shiny beacon I dream about. PEACE.