What if government education isn’t just failing — but is fundamentally, morally wrong? On this episode of Refining Rhetoric, host Robert Bortins sits down with Dr. Bradley Thompson, political philosopher at Clemson University and executive director of the Snow Institute for the Study of Capitalism, to make the abolitionist case for education freedom. From the moral foundations of laissez-faire capitalism to the great books Lyceum program producing the next generation of principled Americans, this conversation will challenge everything you thought you knew about school choice, government schools, and what the Declaration of Independence actually says about the role of government. Dr. Bradley Thompson spent decades studying government education before arriving at a conclusion that surprises most people the first time they hear it: the government school system isn’t just failing — it is immoral by definition, and it cannot be reformed. His case isn’t built on frustration with test scores (though he has that too). It’s built on the same moral arguments the anti-slavery abolitionists used against chattel slavery: coercion is coercion, and education by the government for the government violates the natural rights of individuals. The conversation opens with a tour of the Lyceum Scholars Program at Clemson — a great books scholarship program Dr. Thompson founded, now offering $15,000 per year ($60,000 total) to incoming freshmen who take eight courses over four years covering ancient moral thought, the political theory of capitalism, the American Revolution, and modern moral philosophy from Shakespeare to Ayn Rand. The program’s most distinctive feature is its Socratic Tutor system, where each scholar meets one-on-one with a faculty mentor every other week to translate the ideas they’re reading into their own lives — specifically around questions of moral character, courage, integrity, and honor. From there, Robert and Dr. Thompson dig into the argument that most Americans have never heard made seriously: capitalism is not primarily an economic system. It is a political theory — laissez-faire, meaning the government keeps its hands off — and by that definition, what America has today isn’t capitalism at all. It’s a regulatory, taxing Leviathan that makes the taxation the colonists revolted against look modest by comparison. The moral case for capitalism has been ceded to its critics for a hundred years, Dr. Thompson argues, and that’s why the country has drifted toward serfdom.
What You’ll Learn: • Why capitalism is not primarily an economic system — it’s a political theory of radically limited government • Why we don’t actually have capitalism in America today — and what we have instead • The sordid history of government education in America, where it came from, and who it was designed to serve • Why Dr. Thompson compares his position on government schools to the anti-slavery abolitionists of 1830–1860 • Why government schools cannot be reformed — even with the right people in charge • The “Friday night lights problem” keeping conservatives from embracing education freedom • Why vouchers are just food stamps for education — and how they corrupt private schools • Why the socialization argument against homeschooling is completely bogus • What the Lyceum Program at Clemson is doing to educate morally virtuous, liberty-minded young Americans • What James Madison’s Memorial and Remonstrance has to do with education freedom • The one thing about the American founding Dr. Thompson wishes everyone remembered
Resources Mentioned: • America’s Revolutionary Mind by Dr. C. Bradley Thompson — available wherever books are sold • The Redneck Intellectual (Substack): theredneckintellectual.com • Ed Watch Daily (blog): daily commentary on K-12 and higher education issues • Snow Institute for the Study of Capitalism / Lyceum Program: search “Snow Institute Clemson” or go directly to Clemson University’s website • James Madison’s Memorial and Remonstrance — referenced as the document that sparked Dr. Thompson’s abolitionist turn
This episode of Refining Rhetoric is sponsored by:
Classical Conversations’ new 2026 Product Line
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