The United States was founded on a principle of individual freedom, and was built by men who were often unconventional in their thinking and in their business practices. The idea of creating a national organization to establish and reinforce standards of personal behavior that are most effectively promoted through good parenting and personal responsibility surely would have seemed alien to them.
The BSA debacle is a perfect example of a bit of wisdom I learned over the years:
A large organization is much more easily corrupted than a loosely connected group of people.
“I’m probably in the minority here, but I always saw the BSA as a sign of an unhealthy American culture.”
Back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, a BSA troop met in our church one day a week. I guess Dad was prescient, because he told them needed to find another place to meet. He said the direction they were going wasn’t good or Christian, and we wanted no association with them at all. (Little did he know how bad they would become.)