30 Years Ago in Reason

“Last year officials of the 12-square-block town of Kinney applied for a $186,000 federal grant for its water and sewer system. The experience so overwhelmed them with red tape that they declared the town independent of the United States. The new Republic of Kinney, which began issuing passports in April, has as its official motto: ‘Filed in Triplicate.’ ”
—Trends, “New Secessionists”

“Television is a legally maintained oligopolistic business. Three networks, with a few independent companies as their only serious competition, have a virtual lock on the broadcasting business.”
—Tibor R. Machan, “Sex and Violence Revisited”

“A decade ago…satires on such easy targets of opportunity as the military, businessmen, or Vietnam were one thing. But satirizing such things as state-controlled medicine simply wasn’t done. If you went that far, you might as well satirize New Deal or Great Society programs. And who could laugh at that sort of subject matter?”
—John R. Coyne Jr., “Washington Laughs at the Welfare State”