We’re creating monsters.

Jaiden Rodriguez, a 12-year-old student at The Vanguard School, a K-12 charter school in Colorado Springs, CO, is enjoying a moment of media fame as he works to make a spectacle of himself .  He was recently reportedly removed from school because an administrator considered a Gadsten flag on his backpack to be associated with slavery and slave trade.

 The Gadsden flag was designed by independence-minded colonists in the run-up to the Revolutionary War. In the 1970’s, it was seen by some Tea Party adherents and Libertarians as a symbol of ideological enthusiasm for minimal government and the rights of individuals. Some have since associated it with the Confederate battle flag and the Ku Klux Klan. Suffice it to say, it has had multiple divergent personalities.

What has happened next in Jaiden’s case is a sign of the times. 

First, video of Jaiden being removed from class for displaying the flag went viral, thanks to Connor Boyack, president of Libertas Institute, a Utah-based libertarian think tank.

Then the usual public outrage erupted, stirred by impassioned claims Jaiden’s First Amendment rights were violated. 

And, of course, attention-seeking politicians then chimed in.

“This is a direct attack on his freedom of speech,” said Rep. Lauren Boebert, (R-CO),  a conservative firebrand .”Our education system has a deep-rooted problem with liberal bias.”

The Vanguard School’s Board of Directors subsequently allowed Jaiden to return to school with the Gadsden flag still visible on his backpack, calling the incident “an occasion for us to reaffirm our deep commitment to a classical education.”

That should have been the end of it, but Jaiden, spurred on by his attention-seeking mother, is apparently determined to maximize his moment of fame.

With the support of Libertas Institute, Jaiden has begun an online fundraising campaign to buy and ship books produced by Libertas Institute to schools across the country. The tax-deductible contributions will go to the Institute. 

“Connor and his team have some new American history books that teach the ideas of freedom and the founding fathers.,” Jaiden says in his appeal. “They’re so much better than the textbooks we have to use in school that don’t really teach history with any kind of depth.” 

The books, with titles such as “Should the collective control us?” and “Why are free markets important?”, “… empower parents like you to make sure your children have a foundation of freedom—to understand the ideas of a free society that socialists are trying too hard to undermine,” the Institute says. 

Noting that he’s grown more popular at school because of the controversy, Jaiden even has taken to some name-dropping, saying he’s talked with Ben Shapiro, a controversial conservative political pundit. 

In a podcast interview with Shapiro, Jaiden said the Gadsden flag “…was meant as a warning sign not to tread on our rights in the revolution. Which is funny because they tried to tread on my rights and then they found out they [could] not.”

Jaiden went on to tell Shapiro he expected to win a race for student council in a “landslide” due to the controversy and that he was now “Mr. Popular” at his school.

And to top it all off, now this 12-year-old 7th grader says his experience has made him want to be governor of Colorado in 18 years when he’s 30, the state’s minimum age to serve as governor.

We’re creating monsters.