Is there some way to self host what cloudflare does?
Your domain will always have to be rented through a 3rd party. Cloudflare is (or was?) one of the better choices for that.
Cloudflare does other things as well, most notably it can acts as a proxy: an inbetween between your server and the users. This inbetween can be useful against DOS attacks, blocking of bots, etc. But for most self hosters that part is not necessary. It's a toggle in cloudflare's DNS dashboard: I think you'd want it to say DNS only.
Another thing cloudflare can do is tunneling. It's useful for when your server is behind a firewall or NAT or double NAT you can't or don't want to configure. You'd probably know if you use this, so I assume you don't?
The reverse: I pay more for a worse experience haha. Illegal weed is cheaper and more convenient, they deliver to the door 24/7. But I'd rather not contribute too much to that economy, despite the legal industry having a worse experience.
Even that isn't necessary. I do it because I want to share cool things, even if they're not useful. The world didn't need another crossword puzzle creator, I just felt like writing one.
I think your father thought about this for a long time. And concluded: His love for you is unconditional. He puts that above any and all belief he ever held or will hold.
Maybe he'll start to look at other things a bit differently, too.
Maybe you're making his life a bit more beautiful.
The problem has been noticed enough to the point that there are plenty of proposed solutions. I know of YUNOHOST, sandstorm, caprover, xsrv, runtipi.io, ...
How does your solution compare to those?
I've personally tried yunohost and sandstorm, before giving up on tools like it.
Eventually something broke, and because I didn't do the install, it was hidden behind a button, troubleshooting became so much harder.
For friends and family that want to self-host, without knowledge of linux, I usually recommend to purchase a synology product. It's sadly proprietary, but it's closest to a "point-and-click just works".
Some think the law should describe illegal behaviour. And that the law should apply the same to everyone. Those people are a minority.
What happens in practice is that most people just want to be able to punish people they don't like. So they don't mind overly broad, generic laws, as in their mind it will only be used against the other. Especially in (former) high-trust societies.
And in practice the selective enforcement can work for a long, long time, too. Until a shift of power occurs, and the same laws are enacted just as selectively, but directed differently. Then they surprise pikachu.
Can you read? I just explained that I don't. Jesus Christ!