Civics Course

I was talking to a friend a few days ago about an idea I've had for many years and never acted on it. It is to produce a civics book for home schoolers that explains things the way they really are instead of the way they are taught to children. He liked the idea so there are at least two people that like the idea.

What I envision is a book that explains how government is supposed to work with popular elections, checks and balances, independent branches, enumerated powers, etc. and how it actually works through lies, bribery, blackmail, intimidation, murder, spying, extortion, selective prosecution, secrecy, theft and every sort of criminality. What would be required is a textbook that exposes the actual crimes perpetrated by government with scrupulous documentation and attention to detail. No unsubstantiated crimes should be included, only proven or admitted events. The treatment wouldn't need to be exhaustive, but should impress upon the student that government lies, cheats and steals all the time and is part of its standard operating procedure.

A few examples come immediately to mind such as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, Operation Northwoods, the Tuskegee Experiment, MKUltra, Operation Mockingbird, Operation Gladio, Operation Ajax and so on. There were also various experiments on Americans involving exposure to nuclear bomb tests and other sources of radiation to see the affects on people and the Pont-Saint-Esprit poisoning in France in 1951. For good measure, perhaps the overthrow of Salvador Allende and Jacobo Arbenz could be included.

Examples of perfidy need not be restricted to poisoning, bombing or drugging, but would also include "If you like your doctor, you're going to be able to keep your doctor" and "Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars" or Saddam has weapons of mass destruction, "[The Iraqi soldiers] took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators and left the children to die on the cold floor." There are so many government lies that it won't be a problem to find an adequate number.

A brief illustration of how payoffs, blackmail and threats work in the introduction and passage of bills would be needed along with an exposition of how the revolving door between politics and business works.

I suppose that the book should be on the 9th or 10th grade level, but somebody with teaching experience would have a better idea. I am reminded of an interview Vladimir Posner did with Oliver Stone a few years ago in which Stone said that the history he was taught in school was largely correct, but that there was lots of history he was not taught.

I've been mulling over who should write this book and have come up with a few nominees who may or may not have any interest in it or even think the project has merit. James Bovard is an obvious pick since he has already written thousands of words on this and similar subjects. Tom Woods is another likely draftee as is Charles Burris and Jacob Hornberger. Anything to do with Lincoln or Hamilton could be handled by Thomas DiLorenzo.