A two-part commentary:
For more than a century, the Boy Scouts of America was an organization that sought to instill ideals of morality, self-improvement, civic duty, survival and wilderness skills, and both a religious attitude and patriotism in youth age 7 to 21+.
That, like many other facets of American society and culture, has gone away. Today’s BSA is an evil shadow of its past in the eyes of many.
There were, to be sure, many elements of the BSA that various people (including many libertarians) objected to. There was the “militarism” and paramilitary system and aspects, particularly evident between WWI and WWII. The strong emphasis on patriotism. The expectation that Scouts and Scouters (adult leaders) were believers in God – the God of the Old and New Testaments, not the Allah of the Quran or other belief systems. The monosexual nature of the organization, its tight relationship with government, so-called patriarchal ideas, various churches, and more.
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The Argentine experiment
The election of a self-proclaimed libertarian, Javier Milei, as president of the Republica Argentina, was obviously shocking to many people.
His actions continue to alarm many. Including the American media. An example is the recent headline at MSN.com: Argentina’s President Javier Milei Executes Unprecedented Military Reorganization. But as the story itself states, the reorganization is not “unprecedented” and is being done just a few years after Argentine president Kirchner (2007-2015) reorganized the military.
Milei’s military reforms (including “premature” retirement of 22 senior flag-grade (general) officers and using retired officers to clean up the civilian part of the military establishment) may be a bit more in depth than Ms. Kirchner’s work. And takes a different approach.
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