IDAHO: State GOP Rep Intro's Bill Requiring Atlas Shrugged In High Schools

Idaho GOP state Sen. John Goedde has introduced a bill that requires high school students to read Ayn Rand's libertarian opus, Atlas Shrugs.  You don't graduate if you can't pass a test on the book.

The 1957 novel has been embraced by libertarians and the tea party movement, in part for its opposition to “statism” and embrace of capitalism, as Rand expressed her philosophy of “objectivism,” focusing on “the morality of rational self-interest.” In recent years, the novel has been touted by conservative commentators including Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. “When I read Atlas Shrugged, and it’s been probably 30 years since I read it, but it certainly gives one a sense of personal responsibility,” Goedde said. Sen. Cherie Buckner-Webb, D-Boise, questioned the choice of the book for a graduation requirement. “We have a wide variety of children who will be trying to graduate and reading and grasping some of these things, and their cultural context may be different,” she said.

Goedde says he doesn't intend to lobby for the bill's passage, he's just trying to make a statement. After all, that's the book that "made my son a Republican."