Idaho lawmaker’s bill forces students to pass ‘Atlas Shrugged’ test to graduate

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Raw Story

Idaho lawmaker’s bill forces students to pass ‘Atlas Shrugged’ test to graduate
By David Edwards
Wednesday, February 6, 2013 13:49 EST


The chairman of the Idaho Senate’s Education Committee says that he introduced a bill to require all students to read Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” because the book “made my son a Republican.”

State Sen. John Goedde (R) introduced the bill in committee on Tuesday to mandate that each student pass a test on the novel before they are able to graduate from high school, according to The Spokesman-Review.

But Goedde said that he filed the bill to make a point and does not plan on pushing the issue.

“It was a shot over their bow just to let them know that there’s another way to adopt high school graduation requirements,” Goedde said during the committee meeting. “I don’t intend to schedule a hearing on it.”

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/06/idaho-lawmakers-bill-forces-students-to-pass-atlas-shrugged-test-to-graduate/

[onehandle]

1. One man's 'Republican' is another man's 'Simplistic Dumbass.' nt

[Deep13]

6. This man sees quite a bit of overlap betwwen the two. nt

[lsewpershad]

50. These creeps

are for real. Voters be aware and beware of repukes.

[thelordofhell]

2. Yeah, right.............

[SCVDem]

3. Rand may be your religion

That makes this action illegal and on par with any Madrassa or re-education camp!

Let's run this next to the Presidents first inauguration where just singing an Obama song sent these nutjobs into an indoctrination tail spin.

I am glad the internet is forever as this will never die!

[beerandjesus]

4. This is the dumbest thing I've heard in quite a while.

Even if he isn't serious. This is monumentally stupid.

[icymist]

7. Hear! Hear!

That book was once placed next to books by one of my favorite authors and I decided to find another bookstore!

[Kelvin Mace]

34. "Ha ha, ony serious"

Actually he was serious until the ridicule started. Then he wasn't serious.

[Deep13]

5. Reading atheist propaganda will offend the Lord Jesus Christ.

I don't actually think that, but I can see people taking that position.

Presumably freedom of speech and press is freedom what not to read. Freedom of religion is freedom what not to practice.

[zeemike]

27. Oh don't worry, they rationalized that away a long time ago.

And they will answer "While we don't agree with her atheism, we believe her kind of world is what God wants."
That is when you
Or however inclined.

[Stuart G]

8. This will make national news...this jerk will be exposed....nt

[valerief]

9. These people have no right to hold office. nt

[maxsolomon]

14. They aren't QUALIFIED to be dogcatcher

But the good folks of ID put them in office.

[valerief]

20. Or the good folks of Diebold. nt

[maxsolomon]

45. Have you been to Idaho?

The state bleeds red. Mormons and doomsday prepping retirees. Only UT, WY and the deep south are more GOP.

[Blue Idaho]

57. No other state can come close to Idaho

when it comes to dumbfuck conservative imbeciles roaming the landscape. I know - I live there.

[FreeBC]

10. I love this idea

It's a shame he's not serious.

Half of the kids that like to read will hate it, and all the kids that hate to read will hate it forever.

Kids have the internet now. Forcing them to read Rand's crap will inspire them to read readily available objective criticism of the book.

[mokawanis]

11. It made his son a Republican asshole

Actually, it was Goedde who made his son a Republican asshole. Of course it probably doesn't cross his mind that he wasn't elected to do things like this.

[Orrex]

12. Curious that The State would think of institutionally mandating Rand's work

Presumably, since she was an archetypal Libertarian who would never accept public assistance (such as social security in her waning years, for example), she would strongly object to any state-led use of force to require her "book" to be read.

[meeshrox]

16. ^THIS^

You beat me to it!

[red dog 1]

23. Rand did sign up for Social Security & Medicare in her waning years.

"In 1976, despite her initial objections, she allowed Ewa Pryor, a consultant from her attorney's office, to sign her up for Social Security and Medicare."

McConnel, Scott (2010) "100 Voices: An Oral History of Ayn Rand"..New York..
New American Library...ISBN 978-0-451-23130-7 .OCLC 555642813

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand#CITEREFMcConnell2010/

[Orrex]

25. I know.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

59. That's sarcasm correct?

Rand accepted both Medicare and Social Security. She was the archetypal capitalist...if she could earn money off of the sale of her book, she would have loved it. She was not a woman of principle.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

13. "This book sucks"

Give that kid an A+

[slackmaster]

15. I had to read "The Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx in high school and pass a test on it

It wasn't a graduation requirement per se, but flunking it would have clobbered my World History grade.

[Ikonoklast]

48. You equate reading and being tested on a treatise of economic theory with a shitty novel?

Analogy fail.

Not even a good try.

[slackmaster]

60. Both are poorly written, long-winded tomes that espouse questionable economic and social theories

I had to read it again in an undergraduate philosophy class. The difference between the test I took on it in high school and the one at the university was that to get a good grade in the latter, you had to agree with the author. In high school you just had to prove that you had read and understood the material.

[Scootaloo]

53. One is a pamphlet. The other is a billion-page screed to attack that pamphlet.

Seventeen million and three of those pages are dedicated to the author's Team Edward doofus expounding on how much he loves to keep a chunk of alloy up his ass and doesn't want anyone to say boo about it.

Now you can pass an Idaho graduation exam.

[Jamaal510]

17. Great.

This is exactly what America needs for it's future--Atlas Shrugged indoctrination so we can create more Rand Pauls.

[kyeshinka]

18. One man's freedom is not!

Love the smell of freedom in the morning!

Where does it end? All over this country they are forcing doctors to lecture women, forcing teachers to give a test inspired by a terrible book by a narcissistic hypocrite who claimed to be like Dostoyevsky, forcing teachers to out their gay students.

Sorry, you can keep that "freedom" and your guns and your imaginary Red America with President Nugent. Just stay away from decent people.

[Mnemosyne]

19. Just kill me now. nt

[TheOther95Percent]

21. I thought this was The Onion

Crazy mofo.

[WoodyD]

28. Not the Onion . . .

Just Poe's Law.

[benld74]

22. OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! de stoopids de hurts much!!!!!

[truthisfreedom]

24. Go for it. Ayn Rand made me a liberal.

So much for that theory.

[procon]

26. It makes perfect sense...

If Republicans think that reading a bad sy-fy novel from the 50's will magically convince today's 21st century kids to accept all the rest of the GOPs antiquated and sociopathic beliefs that date from the same era, they really are living in a fantasy world... go for the gold!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

29. I made it through "Atlas Shrugged."

It is just about one of the worst written books ever.

One thing I do know is this. If Ayn Rand were alive, she would heartily encourage any student about to be tested on that book to act in his own interest and not someone else's, especially if that someone else was a petty government bureaucrat.

If that meant that the student felt he could best pass the test by cheating or swapping answers with co-conspirators via cellphone, then by all means go right ahead. If he could get what he needed by reading the online version, fine. The individual's interests come first.

That is the 100% accurate Ayn Rand answer.

ETA: the comments are wonderful.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/feb/05/bill-requires-all-idaho-kids-read-atlas-shrugged/

[AgingAmerican]

30. An ideology based upon fiction

n/t

[Yavin4]

31. Isn't government forcing people to do something against Ayn Rand's philosophy?

Isn't this the very definition of irony?

[TrogL]

32. Is that the one about orcs or the other one?

[Ikonoklast]

49. The other one, you know, the one based on fantasy.

Orcs are real compared to the ridiculous characters Rand invented.

[grahamhgreen]

33. Ayn Rand died on MEDICARE and SOCIAL SECURITY!!!! If she couldn't make it without socialized

programs, how can the rest of us mortals?

[Kelvin Mace]

35. What about "The Fountainhead"

Which glorifies terrorism and rape as objectivist virtues?

[SharonAnn]

72. Atlas Shurgged has rape, too. Seems her heroines can only have sex via rape.

Never did figure that out.

[Kelvin Mace]

81. Did you ever catch the movie version of "Fountainhead"

He spends about five minutes in the movie flexing his muscles while man-handling a jackhammer. Then he rapes her.

Subtle.

[King_Klonopin]

82. She is basically sado-masochistic

[catbyte]

36. Christ on a cracker. Are they going to supply students with No-Doz too? What a boring pile of crap

[rdharma]

40. Let me see........

Given a choice between being required to read 'Atlas Shrugged' and water boarding........... which would I choose? Hmmmmmmm!

That would be a damn tough decision!

[Posteritatis]

68. It's actually a statewide narcolepsy study. They're only providing the Doz. (nt)

[red dog 1]

37. Idaho's Republican Governor Butch Otter wants to gas wolf pups in their dens

and also wants to issue 70,000 permits to kill wolves, despite the fact that there are only a few hundred Gray Wolves left in that state.

I'm sure Ayn Rand would be pleased.

There is a petition to President Obama "Protect Idaho's Wolves From Otter's Cruelty"
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-idaho-wolves/

[amb123]

38. Might as well ask students to pass a Bible Test

in order to graduate.

The suggestion is as bad as a Poll Tax or Literacy Test. Disgusting.

[MrScorpio]

39. I wish that I could ask this guy, Goedde, to describe what's it's like to be a rocket scientist nt

[hue]

41. This is the religion the Tea/Repukes want to force down our young ones' throats!!

[silverweb]

42. Might backfire, anyway.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Reading the book started me on the path to becoming a Democratic Socialist.

[rdharma]

43. Methinks Sen. Goedde knows this won't fly......

He is just grandstanding for his teabagger base.

[lunasun]

79. on the tax payer's dime too ! $ + time waster

[Moonwalk]

44. Read the entire posting: Goedde wasn't serious; he was trying to make some point or other...

--using it as a "shot over their bow," though exactly what that point was I don't know. Likely trying to prove that liberals were hypocritical about something or other. I wonder if he knows that thanks to the internet, most people won't read farther than "introduced a law to..." and think him stupid. Then again, I read the whole thing and still think him stupid.

[rdharma]

54. "I read the whole thing and still think him stupid."

Moonwalk, I'm not sure if the good Senator is that stupid. He is smart enough to know how to play his teabagger base like a Stradivarius .......... because he recognizes that they are REALLY STUPID!

[Moonwalk]

66. Well, at this point playing to the teabagger base is becoming a stupid idea as it seems...

...to be shrinking rapidly and losing its financing. I mean, the deep pockets have used the teabaggers as much as they can, and fleeced all the money they can fleece off their members. So with no backing, and no protests for the media to report on, and polls showing that they're a dwindling minority with lessing political clout....how smart it is to still cater to them? I'd say he's playing them like a taped together fiddle with broken strings. Yeah, he can still get music out of it, but the music isn't being listened to.

[rdharma]

80. ......but the music isn't being listened to.

I wish you were right, moonwalk. But in Sen. Goedde's part of NC, 'Dueling Banjos' is still a favorite!

[SnowCritter]

46. I don't know who first wrote the following,

but I love it:

"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."

[rdharma]

56. Screenwriter John Rogers

He was quite right!

[jwirr]

47. Than I would not graduate.

[steelhead77]

51. I picked up this book

at Goodwill a number of years ago. I usually will donate books back to Goodwill after I've read them. This is the only book I've ever thrown in the trash after reading it. I did not want to be responsible for another person being exposed to that POS.

[lumpy]

64. Thank you for doing the right thing.

n

[sakabatou]

52. Dafuq?

[Initech]

55. To quote Hank Hill: I don't know whether to laugh or vomit.

[Kalidurga]

58. Good idea...

most people including teenagers don't get enough sleep.

[hatrack]

61. As Dorothy Parker said "This is not a book to be set aside lightly."

"It is to be thrown with great force."

[Blue Idaho]

62. John Goedde is a worthless piece of shit.

I know him, I live a few miles from his house. He is total asshole with zero curiosity and a world view that is white, rich, christian, male, and mean as a junk yard dog. No others need apply to John Goedde's America. He was perfectly happy to have the Aryan Nations world headquarters here in North Idaho, hates education, and wants every one to be forced to carry a gun. I would not walk across the street to shake his hand if he was handing out $100 bills.

Here's the bad news - compared to Idaho Legislators from the Mormon rich southern end of the state, the guy is practically a liberal.

The Tea Party is a cleaned up, well dressed, media friendly version of your average Idaho citizen. I can not wait to get out of this mecca for bottom feeding bigots.

[madrchsod]

63. tell us how you really feel about idaho.....

never been west of the Missouri river so i`ll take your word about idaho. yup there`s a lot of good places to live where the people can actually think.

[IDemo]

70. Then there's Sheryl 'Obamacare-equals-the-Holocaust' Nuxoll

The flakiness thrives more than the huckleberries here.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/31/sheryl-nuxoll-idaho-gop-state-senator-compares-obamacare-to-holocaust_n_2591351.html

[Blue Idaho]

75. Sad but very true.

Sadly Idaho is such a well known nuthouse these insane comments are no longer reported on by legitimate national news organizations.

"What do you expect, it's Idaho..."

[SoapBox]

65. Good Gawd...can you say, UNCONSTITUTIONAL!

Way to cram an Ideology down Americans' throats, Fascists!

[aquart]

76. Big time.

[Brigid]

67. Tell me again . . .

How this is the greatest country in the world. I
keep forgetting.

[suffragette]

69. So he feels he had no influence as a parent on his son's views

Sounds like he is saying he was ineffective in even convincing his own family of his politics.

With such absurd actions as this, no surprise there.

[Tom Ripley]

71. I would rather pass a kidney stone

[HeiressofBickworth]

73. It's a fucking NOVEL

not a scholarly treatise on any of the sciences. Any test given for graduation eligibility should at least be on something that would enrich a person's life.

I read it back in the stone age when I was in high school. It was a novel -- it didn't give me any guidelines for personal or societal values one way or the other. I'm a liberal, progressive and proud leftie. Reading a particular novel didn't make me this way -- watching the news, reading the news and understanding what the political parties stood for made me what I am.

[Supply Side Jesus]

74. This must be the "indoctrination" I keep hearing about

or re-education camps or something....

[hrmjustin]

77. The shame is that the GOP in ID can run through anything they want, and the dems can't stop

them. You know that they will pass it in the end, because he may drop it but some other idiot will take it up.

[DeSwiss]

78. K&R

[yurbud]

83. He's impressed with himself because it's the first book he's read that didn't have Rush's face on it