What were you doing this morning at 11? I'll tell you what Reason.com/.tv Editor Nick Gillespie was doing–answering questions about libertarianism and Ron Paul over at WashingtonPost.com. Sample from that:
Q: If Paul does well in Iowa, will this lead to more liberty-minded GOP candidates gaining strength in the '12 Congressional elections? A: Regardless of Paul's fortunes in Iowa and beyond, I think libertarian-minded candidates of either party are poised to do well. They did in 2010, as Ron Paul's son Rand, now a senator from Kentucky, could tell you. If you're selling a message of reduced government spending and reduced government control over your life, you'll do pretty well in most places. We're coming off a decade-plus of massive overreach by first the Republicans and then the Democrats. We've got nothing to show for it but death (in wars), debt, and disillusionment. […] Q: Once one understands the libertarian position, and understand the very notion of liberty, and how it benefits everyone, it is very difficult not to become a raving evangelist. However, we are always confronted with progressives who seem to argue that their "philosophy" is somehow morally superior because they "care about people." How does the be-leathered one shut this argument down? A: Obviously a Reason reader! I don't actually encounter many Progressives or liberals who insist they are morally superior and I try not to be a raving evangelist for my POV (though I try to be persuasive). It's pretty easy to stress that outcomes matter more than intentions and that giving people more freedom in their personal and economic lives leads to better material outcomes.
That was in the morning. In the afternoon, Gillespie took the train up to New York to record bits talking about crony capitalism on Real World W/ Cavuto, and about God knows what on Red Eye. Meanwhile, Reason staffers Katherine Mangu-Ward and Peter Suderman are in the same building taping for the next episode of Stossel. I did some live radio on WBAL-AM earlier today. We're a pretty damned small staff (crack open the print mag and look in the staffbox some time, keeping in mind that "Contributing Editors" do not work for the publication), and yet there we are all over the damned place, yakking about the issues (and with the point of view) you care about most.
This is an explicit part of our capital-M Mission, even though every moment spent on some else's media property is a moment not spent on our own (and believe me, the production maw does not get any less ravenous here at the Reason journalism manufacturing division). Judging by the responses we've heard back from y'all (not to mention my Dad's reaction tuning into Judge Andrew Napolitano's *Freedom Watch*), this has been time well spent.
Here, for example, is Nick Gillespie's (in)famous appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher:
And here I was on Fox Business Network's Varney & Co., talking up marijuana legalization:
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