Government 1B Instructor: Dr. Thomas Woods

This 9th-grade course continues Government 1A. It is the fruit of over 20 years of learning and study on my part, summarized in a half-year course.

The course is divided into the following sections:

Government and a Free Society:  Theory

• history of natural rights theories
• negative rights, positive rights, property rights, human  rights
• do people consent to government?
• critics of the freedom philosophy

Some Rationales for Government Action

• common reasons given for government intervention
• public goods
• poverty
• monopoly
• inequality
• and more

Some Problems with Government Action

• consequences of government intervention in various  areas
• labor and unions
• health care
• antitrust
• farm programs
• business cycles
• war and the economy
• child labor
• working conditions
• the welfare state
• the environment
• money
• and more

The Modern State

• the theory of the modern state
• can political bodies be too large?
• decentralization

Government:  Various Modern Systems

• constitutional republic
• monarchy
• fascism

• communism
• social democracy
• and more

The Lessons of History?

• Industrial Revolution
• the New Deal
• the housing bust of 2008

Unresolved Problems

• are voters informed?
• is political representation meaningful?
• the myth of the rule of law
• the incentives of democracy

The Rothbardian Critique

• what is government really needed for?

Conclusions

• economic freedom of the world
• what have we learned?

When Government 1B covers material introduced in Government 1A, it does so at a slightly higher level, building upon and reinforcing what you learned in the earlier   course.

Parents can listen to the course lessons (which average about 25 minutes, but range from 18 minutes to an extreme of 38 minutes) during their commutes or around the house. On each lesson page you’ll find a link to    a downloadable audio file. Just right-click (not left-click) on your mouse, and choose the option to save the file to your computer.

VERY IMPORTANT: Please do not skip the introductory lesson. It conveys vital information about the course.

The lesson links to the Ron Paul Curriculum pages are live. If the student is logged in, by clicking a link, he or she will be taken to the page that has the   lesson.

All of the course providers ask that students not share this list with others, including siblings in the family. Course providers have created these courses on this assumption: each course will be paid for by the user or   on behalf of the user. The pricing of access to the forums is based on one fee per family. This is not the agreement with respect to individual courses. Course providers have gone to the effort of producing courses on this assumption: students will not share the courses, and parents will not teach their children to steal by sharing courses with their siblings.

We know that a few parents will tell their children: “Well, no one will find out. I am going to let your brothers and sisters use this course. It won’t hurt.” But it will hurt. It will hurt the course providers. It will also hurt any student who finds out that his parents deliberately stole from the course providers in order to save a little money.

So, we ask every parent to show his child the purchase receipt for each course, without being asked by the

student to do this.

There will be a date on the purchase receipt. This is a matter of showing good faith. It is a way for a parent to say: “Do what I do, and also do what I say. This is the right way to run your life.”

Here is the list of the lessons.

1. Introduction
2. Natural Rights Theories: High Middle Ages to Late Scholastics
3. Natural Rights Theories: John Locke and Self-Ownership
4. Natural Rights Theories: Argumentation Ethics
5. Week 1 Review

6. Locke and Spooner on Consent
7. The Tale of the Slave
8. Human Rights and Property Rights
9. Negative Rights and Positive Rights
10. Week 2 Review

11. Critics of Liberalism: Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the General Will
12. Critics of Liberalism: John Rawls and Egalitarianism
13. Critics of Liberalism: Thomas Nagel and Ronald  Dworkin
14. Critics of Liberalism: G.A. Cohen
15. Week 3 Review

16. Public Goods
17. The Standard of Living
18. Poverty
19. Monopoly
20. Week 4 Review

21. Science
22. Inequality
23. Aid to Developing Countries
24. Discrimination
25. Week 5 Review

26. The Socialist Calculation Problem
27. Working Conditions
28. Child Labor
29. Labor and Unions
30. Week 6 Review

31. Health Care
32. Antitrust
33. Farm Programs
34. War and the Economy
35. Week 7 Review

36. Business Cycles
37. Industrial Policy

38. Government, the Market, and the Environment
39. Prohibition
40. Week 8 Review

41. Taxation
42. Government Spending
43. The Welfare State: Theoretical Issues
44. The Welfare State: Practical Issues
45. Week 9 Review

46. Price Controls
47. Government and Money, Part I
48. Government and Money, Part II
49. Midterm Review
50. Week 10 Review

51. The Theory of the Modern State
52. American Federalism and the Compact Theory
53. Can Political Bodies Be Too Large?
54. Decentralization
55. Week 11 Review

56. Constitutionalism: Purpose
57. The American Case: Self-Government and the Tenth Amendment
58. The American Case: Progressives and the “Living, Breathing Document”
59. The American States and the Federal Government
60. Week 12 Review

61. Monarchy
62. Social Democracy
63. Fascism I
64. Fascism II
65. Week 13 Review

66. Marx I
67. Marx II
68. Communism I
69. Communism II
70. Week 14 Review

71. Miscellaneous Intervention: Postwar Africa
72. Public Choice I
73. Public Choice II
74. Miscellaneous Examples of Government Activity and Incentives
75. Week 15 Review

76. The Industrial Revolution
77. The New Deal I
78. The New Deal II
79. The Housing Bust of 2008

80. Week 16 Review

81. Are Voters Informed?
82. Is Political  Representation Meaningful?
83. The Myth of the Rule of Law
84. The Incentives of Democracy
85. Week 17 Review

86. The Sweeping Critique: Robert LeFevre
87. The Sweeping Critique: Murray N. Rothbard
88. Case Study: The Old West
89. Economic Freedom of the World
90. Week 18 Review