N1-POL120 Purple Nation: Politics of the Heart and Hearth
A non-affiliated political conversation using close-reading of divergent political writing to create affinity groups that cross political borders. This course gathers together politically-minded individuals who care about one thing and one thing only: solving problems. This is not your standard (and safe) American Politics and Government course. Main texts are A Patriot’s History of the United States (Schweikart and Allen) and A People’s History of the United States (Zinn). Additional reading include targeted selections from: Hayek, The Road To Serfdom; Chernomas and Hudson, Social Murder and Other Shortcomings of Conservative Economics; Norberg, In Defense of Global Capitalism; Lester,Gruesome Acts of Capitalism; West, Democracy Matters; Petrito’s American Progressivism, and Boaz, The Libertarian Reader.
Course Requirements:
Blogs: All students will start their blogs on WordPress (or other service), report the url to Dr. Baum. All blog addresses will be circulated to the entire class the first Sunday of the term.
Course Schedule: open tutorial; daily blog entries; 6 writing assessments (see below)
Required Reading:
** the course has shifted with the arrival of new colleagues (faculty/students/friends)
I’d like to start here. Use these articles to compose your first four blog entries following some success strategies that have worked well in the past
Goldberg on the Future of Conservativism
Assessments:
- Six (6) short papers or presentations
- Daily blogging (21 entries, one per day; yes, you can make up some of the work!)
- Written, visual, audio documentation of engagement with course material
- Contributing to Seminar 365 targeted responses or prompts inspired by the Undead course
- Professor will provide 3 short narrative evaluations of work submitted/completed
- Grade will be provided for the sake of clear assessment and transfer purposes
- Standard 4.0 system will be used for universal transript purposes.
- Remember: the narrative comments will matter most to the N1 Academy Originals.
n1academy.wordpress.com 
Comment board is an open discussion. Your contribution to the course will primarily be made through your blog. Here, Dr. Baum will pose discussion topics and highlight important items found in the course materials. However, unlike most college or university courses, you, the student, will be responsible for generating and sustaining the conversation by way of your replies.
You can take the lead in our general discussions by way of your direct replies to threads. Or, feel free to create your own.
Also, Dr. Baum will read and copy/paste key questions, insights, concerns to this feed periodically; the goal here remains to synthesize information, critique, and analysis into more targeted discussion as it relates to the essential course objectives and the broader N1 mission. Maintaining your blog and connecting the blog to this general discussion will determine how well we sustain and enliven our conversations.
You are also more than welcome to start a new thread here on your own by leaving a general reply. Replies to each of the threads can be made by hitting the small “reply” button found within the thread. The general reply text box is always found at the bottom of any particular course page.
750-1000 words
Define Freedom.
Be specific.
Cite course materials.
Always link or provide a list of links that back up your arguments.