The Tuttle Twins Guide to Current Events

Happy Friday!

The other day I got an email from a YouTuber named Karen Rodriguez whose page, “Our House,” had just put out a great video about how the messages in our books correlate to current events. I’d encourage you to go over and take a look at it when you get a moment—she did a great job!

Karen chose to focus on The Tuttle Twins and the Road to Surfdom and how the lessons of central planning, unintended (and intended) consequences, and individualism vs. collectivism affect people’s daily lives and relate to what we are seeing play out on the world stage right now.

I’ve already talked a lot about how The Tuttle Twins and the Messed Up Market applies to current events—what with bailouts and stimulus, and the failure of so many people to recognize that individual human action is what creates an economy—but after watching Karen’s video, I realized just how applicable the lessons in Surfdom are right now, too.

Here are just a couple of quotes from the book:

“It’s great to plan for yourself,” Mr. Tuttle replied. “When you’re free to make your own plans, you can do what you think is best for you. You’re also more careful to not make mistakes. Also, planning for yourself doesn’t force other people to follow your plans. This is called individualism—when people are free to run their own lives as they wish.”

“When a few people make decisions they think will benefit the most people—and then force everybody to follow those decisions—that’s called collectivism. It prevents individuals from making the best choices for themselves.”

I mean, could there be a more important lesson to be learned from all of this right now?

The truth is, that just as economies can’t be planned because they are made up of countless individuals acting in their own best interest, proper solutions to other problems—even viruses—can’t be found in a one-size-fits-all government mandate.

It simply doesn’t—and can’t—work that way.

Something that makes The Road to Surfdom even more timely is the decision Eljah and I made about four years ago—when I was writing it—to include an image of empty grocery store shelves and this exchange between Mrs. Tuttle and Emily. It couldn’t have possibly aged any better:

Mrs. Tuttle explained during the car ride back that in some countries, government plans so poorly that people can’t buy milk, bread, gasoline, or even toilet paper.

“Ew, are you serious?” Emily asked. She had never imagined what her life would be like without any toilet paper!

I’m telling you—I really am getting tired of being right about this stuff…

I know a lot of people are trying to help their kids make sense of all the craziness they’re seeing and hearing right now. I think Karen did a great job at breaking down a lot of what is going on and applying it to lessons taught in The Tuttle Twins and the Road to Surfdom. Although we include discussion questions at the back of all of our books, I think that parents could probably create their own questions framed around current events as they read and discuss our books with their kids.

Kids are super smart, and they’re a lot more intuitive than a lot of adults give them credit for. They notice the changes in the world, and they are eager to make sense of them and understand the things happening around them. Our books offer a pretty great resource for explaining tough or complex things in a way that kids can easily grasp and relate to.

If you already have a set for yourself, I’d love to offer you a chance to snag a set to send to a friend who you think could benefit from a simple and concise way to present these ideas to their kids. Head to TuttleTwins.com and use coupon code FORTY at checkout to get them for 40% off.

We might as well take this time when we are all supposedly “homeschoolers” to help spread the messages of limited government, self-reliance, free market economics, liberty, and the power of the individual to those we care about! Hopefully people will learn from all of this, and begin to more passionately reject collectivist central planning.

Because I’m with Emily… I don’t like toilet paper shortages. 🙁

— Connor