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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) participates in a discussion about legislation to halt the sale of some weapons to Saudi Arabia at the Center for the National Interest on Sept. 19, 2016 in Washington, D.C.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Sen. Rand Paul will teach students at George Washington University about dystopias next fall.

The Kentucky Republican's course will focus on "history of dystopian attitudes and how they relate to current events and political debates," according to the college's student newspaper, The Hatchet .

I am thrilled to have an opportunity to join the faculty and students at the George Washington University for the upcoming fall semester, Paul said through a spokesperson for the University, The Hatchet reports. The George Washington University is one of our nations leading higher education institutions and I look forward to my time in Foggy Bottom.

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The course will be called "Dystopian Visions," according to the George Washington course schedule. No books have been assigned yet, but Paul quoted from George Orwell's 1984 in his Senate filibuster on targeted killing of Americans on U.S. soil in 2013 and he told VICE that same year that he has long wanted to teach a class on the dystopian novels.

"I've talked about it, but unfortunately I keep developing other projects that get in the way," he told VICE. "I would like to do it someday. I think dystopian novels are a discussion of politics, and sort of what happens if you let a government accumulate too much power."

He picked a good time for the course. Since the election, sales of dystopian novels such as 1984 have spiked, with Hulu's adaption of The Handmaid's Tale driving renewed interest as well.

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Rand Paul Will Teach DC College Students About Dystopias - TIME

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Sen. Rand Paul Comes Out In Favor Of President Trump's Tax Plan - The Liberty Conservative

On the day before President Donald Trump hit his first 100 days, I woke up to a CNN headline that "we could end up having a major, major confrontation with North Korea."

I was tempted to go back to bed, but I persisted.

The news didn't make persistence easier. In another 100-days interview, this time with Reuters, the president wistfully lamented that his new job is "more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier." Now he tells us.

I could not help but draw a connection between this news and another story I was working on, an announcement by George Washington University that Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., will be teaching a class in the fall. The name of the class? "Dystopian Visions."

Is that an appropriate topic for these times or what?

In the relentless crush of daily news, I am not surprised by the notion that many readers would seek refuge in the works of writers whose perspective is not limited to the factual world.

Think of dystopia as the opposite of utopia, a very unpleasant place where people lead dehumanized lives under the heel of autocratic elites who profess to be creating a utopia.

After Trump's election to the White House, booksellers reported a surge in sales of such perennial favorites as "1984," "Brave New World" and "The Handmaid's Tale" a miniseries version of which has been streaming on Hulu. Recent years have seen a wave of new dystopian fiction, such as "The Giver," "The Hunger Games" series and the "Divergent" series in the young adult book and movie markets. Novelist Junot Diaz calls dystopia "the default narrative of the generation."

Yet the dystopian wave began long before Trump's election. As John Feffer, author of the dystopian novel "Splinterlands," recently wrote in The Nation, there was an apocalyptic mindset on both sides of the recent presidential election. On one side, Trump "tapped into the end-of-days impulses of Christian evangelicals, anti-globalists and white power enthusiasts." On the other side, Hillary Clinton supporters warned of a "Trumpocalypse" with more severe climate change, economic collapse and the outbreak of race wars.

But Sen. Paul's interest started well before the recent presidential race.

In a 2013 VICE interview he revealed, "I think dystopian novels are a discussion of politics, and sort of what happens if you let a government accumulate too much power." New presidents or kings think they're too good and smart to abuse their power, Paul said, offering President Barack Obama's early stand against indefinite detention for prisoners in Guantanamo Bay as an example. Obama reduced their numbers, but politics prevented him from closing the place down as he had promised.

Good intentions, Paul said, are "not good enough. It's like when (President James) Madison said, "If government were comprised of angels, we wouldn't have to worry about how much power to give the government."

Having been immersed in reports of widespread intolerance for conservative speakers on campus, I feared that the announcement of Paul's new teaching gig would send angry letters and petitions flying like snowflakes. But initial reaction, at least, was quite the opposite. Available seats went quickly, despite its 8 a.m. time slot, which touched off unconfirmed reports of left-out Paul fans offering cash bribes to would-be seat scalpers.

The genre's appeal to the libertarian-minded Paul is easy to see. Dystopian fiction tends to cast bold, courageous individuals against big government, glorifying the smarts, skills and tenacity of its heroes and heroines. Its anti-authoritarian sentiments have instant appeal to rebellious teenagers whose central theme in life is the oppression imposed on them by their elders.

With that in mind, it is not surprising that Paul is quite popular among students, as his father, former Rep. Ron Paul, a Texas libertarian Republican, also was.

Yet we also need to be cautious about which lessons to take away from dystopian narratives. They often turn on the savior who steps up and leads the masses in Messianic fashion out of a crisis. Real life usually doesn't work out that easily.

Many of the same people who support Trump today ridiculed Obama supporters for following a "savior," until they had one of their own. Democracy calls for an electorate that remains conscientiously involved and refuses to pass the buck to others. Otherwise, just when you think "it's not the end of the world," it is.

Clarence Page, a member of the Tribune Editorial Board, blogs at http://www.chicagotribune.com/pagespage.

cpage@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @cptime

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Why some think dystopia looks good these days - Chicago Tribune - Chicago Tribune

By Sen. Rand Paul

American-built planes with American bombs were used by the Saudis to bomb a funeral procession in Yemen. Over 100 people were killed, and 500 mourners were wounded. Active duty American pilots have been refueling the planes dropping bombs across Yemen.

Sounds like war to me.

But when did we declare war on Yemen? When did Congress vote to authorize military force in Yemen? Who is the enemy, and why are we fighting them?

Lets be clear: war was NOT declared by Congress, as the Constitution requires. Congress never authorized American participation in a war in Yemen. And yet, here we are, involved in yet another Middle East war.

We havean unfortunatehabit of arming foreign nations, only to discover that these supposed allies may be creating more enemies for America than they are killing.

Not only are we selling the bombs to Saudi Arabia that they are dropping on Yemen, the presidents first military act was to send a manned raid of Navy Seals into Yemen.

RELATED:Paul slams McCain and Graham on Syria: They have learned nothing from our history in the Middle East

Tragically, one of our Navy SEALs was killed, along with several women and children. I dont blame our soldiers they take orders. They do the best that they can under the circumstances. I do, however, blame the politicians who send our soldiers into impossible situations.

Confronted by civilians, sometimes women and children, firing weapons at them, our soldiers must return fire. But before putting our soldiers in that unenviable position, shouldnt Congress debate whether involving our nation in a war in Yemen is in our national security interest?

The raid killed al-Qaeda operatives who, while likely enemies of ours, were actually fighting the same people the Saudis are fighting: the Houthi rebels.

To emphasize, the Saudis and al-Qaeda are fighting a common enemy in the Houthi rebels. In essence, we sent Navy Seals into Yemen to kill people who actually were fighting a common enemy.

In a country where so many factions are fighting,it is nearly impossible to distinguish friend from foe.

Thousands of civilians have been killedby Saudi bombings in Yemen. The blowback from these civilian deaths will be generations of hatred and likely more terrorism.

It isalso possible our involvement in the Yemeni Civil war could allow a situation where the Saudis and the Houthis decimate each other, leaving a vacuum that al-Qaeda fills. Think it cant happen? Well its exactly what happened when America and Saudi-supported rebels pushed back Assad in Syria, leaving a power gap thatISISfilled.

In recent years, there hasnt been a military action taken in Yemen by Saudi Arabia that doesnt have Americas fingerprints all over it.

As my colleague Senator Chris Murphy said last year, If you talk to Yemenis, they will tell you that this is perceived inside Yemen as not a Saudi-led bombing campaign [] but as a U.S. bombing campaign or at best a U.S.-Saudi bombing campaign.

Obviously, none of this enhances U.S. national security. But how many Americans are even awarethat we are actively involved in a war in Yemen?

Last year I introduced abipartisanbillwith Sen. Murphyto stop a U.S. transfer of arms and dollars costing $1.15 billion in all to the Saudis. The Senate voted to allow the sale. The debate, however, prompted President Obama to reconsider and ultimately to cancel the sale of more bombs to Saudi Arabia.

Now, the Trump administration is considering going ahead with more missile sales to Saudi Arabia. This would be a serious mistake. If the sale is debated in Congress, I will reintroduce legislation to stop it.

Other reasons not to sell offensive arms to Saudi Arabia include their abysmal human rights record and lingering questions about that nations possible role in 9/11.

The families of 9/11 victims have an active legal case alleging Saudi culpability for 9/11. These are complaints that bear review, considering that 16 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.

One of thememosdiscovered during the Hillary Clinton email leak stated, We need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligenceassetsto bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIS and other radical groups in the region.

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A State Departmentcablereleased byWikileaksin 2009 revealed,Saudi Arabia remains a criticalfinancialsupport base for al-Qaeda [and] the Taliban []

Why dont we hear more about this?

President Trump promised to put America first again, precisely because so much of what we have done in our foreign policy in recent years has been to other countries benefitbut to the detriment of the U.S.

In the upcoming debate, I hope the president will seriously consider the unintended consequences of getting us mired in yet another Middle East war.

That would be a mistake. I think its high time we start learning from our mistakes.

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Rand Paul: The US should not fund Saudi Arabia's war on Yemen - Rare.us

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, quasi-Libertarian and former quasi-ophthalmologist, is teaching a class next semester at George Washington University called Dystopian Visions. Unfortunately, I am not a student at GW and registration is closed.

The class, according to the GW Hatchet, will focus on the history of dystopian attitudes and how they relate to current events and political debates.

When Senator Pauls office approached us about coming to campus to teach this course, we agreed that his unique voice as a sitting senator would provide an engaging backdrop for our students, Columbian College of Arts and Sciences Dean Ben Vinson told the Hatchet.

Sen. Paul, like many current members of the Republican party, is a glorious Picasso of contradictions. Hes advocated for criminal justice reform but recently voted to confirm Jeff Sessions as attorney general; he was a staunch opponent of the entire concept of executive orders when Obama was president but doesnt seem to have minded the steep mountain of em that Donald Trump has signed. Having once spent an entire day watching Rand Paul stomp around in a cotton mock-turtleneck on a livestream, nothing would please me more than to observe this manwho recently played a friendly game of golf with a kleptocrattry to explain the concept of dystopia to a bunch of undergrads.

Anyway, Im wondering if someone would be interested in giving me their spot? That would be great, thanks so much.

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Someone Please Sneak Me Into Rand Paul's Class on 'Dystopian Visions' - Jezebel