Ron Paul's final speech in Congress, delivered on the eve of his November retirement from the House, was a libertarian call to arms. The American public has sunk into unconscionable complacency, he said, and allowed themselves to be entranced by material progress while their hard-won liberties were snatched away.
The unprecedented expansion of wealth and prosperity was an illusion built on debt, and it's come crashing down, he went on. "We have ended up with a system that doesn't produce enough even to finance the debt and no fundamental understanding of why a free society is crucial to reversing these trends."
Reclaiming liberty is possible, but it will take a groundswell of citizens who clamor for it. That, in turn, will take education, and not the kind that will be taught in public schools. To properly instill a love of liberty, children need to be home-schooled. And that brings us to the first major venture of Paul's career post-Congress: The Ron Paul Curriculum.
As you've probably already guessed, The Ron Paul Curriculum deviates somewhat from the textbook-and-worksheet model.
For one, it rejects the authority of states to create standards as to what children must be taught; as Paul's curriculum director Gary North puts it, this is "an illegitimate infringement on the right of parents to educate their children." It's also free from kindergarten to the fifth grade, after which parents must pay $250 per year.
Then there's the subject matter. There will be math, science, reading and writing, but all of these will be delivered with a peculiarly Paulian focus. As North, who ranks among the least charismatic human beings in human history, explains in an introductory YouTube video, the curriculum will focus on the study of liberty in Western civilization and the United States and "teach the Biblical principal of self-government and personal responsibility."
And what primary school would be complete without a thorough grounding in the Austrian school of economics?
North expects that students will come away from their schooling with some unique advantages, including the ability to defend the free market system intellectually, an understanding of the U.S. Constitution and "how it has been hijacked," and, of course, a detailed understanding of the Austrian school of economics.
Before you rush to pull your kid out of school, know that the curriculum doesn't actually go live until September 2. Until then, you can prepare your child by having him read Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom, which will be a part of the curriculum.
