Attn, DC Reasonoids: Come Hear Brink Lindsey, Jonah Goldberg & Matt Kibbe Debate "Where Do Libertarians Belong?" Monday, July 12, 6:30 PM at Reason's HQ

July 11, 2010

After a decade of bipartisan big-government policies, 21 months of bailout economics, and just about the same length of time for anti-government Tea Party activism, many strategic-minded libertarians are wondering which political tendencies, if any, are worth rooting for, collaborating with, or consigning to the dustbin of history. That was the subject of Reason's August/September cover forum (not yet online; click here to subscribe), in which the Cato Institute's Brink Lindsey argued that "Right Is Wrong," National Review's Jonah Goldberg warned against "The Non-Existent Center," and FreedomWorks' Matt Kibbe advised: "Drink Your Tea."

Now the three commentators are reprising and updating their debate live, in Reason's D.C. headquarters, on Monday, July 12.

What: A "Where Do Libertarians Belong?" debate between Cato Institute Vice President Brink Lindsey, National Review Editor-at-Large and American Enterprise Institute Visiting Fellow Jonah Goldberg, and FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe.

When: Monday, July 12, 6.30-8:30 pm

Where: Reason's DC HQ, 1747 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington DC 20009. (Two blocks north of Dupont Circle; take Red Line Metro to Dupont Circle North exit.)

Program starts at 7 p.m. sharp. Audience Q&A to follow debate. Soft and hard drinks served. Space is limited, so RSVPs are a must: Send email to events-at-reason.com.

Reason needs your support. Please donate today!

Try Reason's award-winning print edition today! Your first issue is FREE if you are not completely satisfied.

Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment or disable your ability to comment for any reason at any time.

PicassoIII|7.7.10 @ 3:39PM|#

1st!!!

Whose the dude in the porn 'stashe.

|7.7.10 @ 3:42PM|#

LOL, I bet thats gonna be about as exciting as watching paint dry LOL

Lou
www.web-anonymity.au.tc

PicassoIII|7.7.10 @ 3:44PM|#

What, you don't like 'hard' drinks Lou?

PicassoIII|7.7.10 @ 3:42PM|#

Aw, and a nod to moonbat Dennis K. One of the few true liberals i can sorta, on occasion, respect)

|7.7.10 @ 3:51PM|#

Will Jonah Goldberg be wearing his "I'm Not A Nazi, But I Sure Like Torture" Gestapo outfit?

¢|7.7.10 @ 3:52PM|#

I hope you told Lindsey about this before you told us. He's about a nine-day journey deep in Obama's ass.

Esoteric|7.7.10 @ 3:58PM|#

Holy crap, I'm actually going to be in town for this. I suppose I should go.

|7.7.10 @ 4:57PM|#

Read the goddamn title, Esoteric, if you ain't beltway, then you ain't fucking invited.

That was sarcasm, don't get all mad and shit.

Bryant|7.11.10 @ 1:43PM|#

You know the score out there, pal. If you ain't Beltway, you're Little People.

BeltwayLurker|7.11.10 @ 4:02PM|#

Even if you retired.

Beltway Liberal-tarian|7.11.10 @ 9:54PM|#

Little people of America

STFU and we'll tell you what to think.

Old Mexican|7.7.10 @ 3:59PM|#

You cannot have personal freedom if you do not have economic freedom. Basically that means that all those clowns inside the Nolan graph (except Rep. Paul) belong squarely in the lowest corner of it.

|7.7.10 @ 4:44PM|#

You obviously don't understand the graph do you? - You can blame sell out big government libertarians at the Advocates for Self Government for that non-black and white political spectrum

|7.7.10 @ 4:12PM|#

I'm only coming if I can wear my 'Jonah Goldberg is a douche bag' shirt.

|7.7.10 @ 4:58PM|#

Yeah, that'd make you way cool, dude. All, like, irreverent and shit.

|7.7.10 @ 11:32PM|#

I've had the shirt for like three years; I can't not wear it at this point. It's so rare that Jonah Goldberg actually gets invited to speak anywhere.

BeltwayLurker|7.11.10 @ 3:42PM|#

He is on cspan pretty regular.

Jonah Goldberg|7.8.10 @ 11:59AM|#

I'll be wearing mine.

Beltway Liberal-tarian|7.11.10 @ 9:57PM|#

Wear your I heart Will Wilki shirt instead.

He's so smart he's turned liberal.

DC Area Libertarians|7.7.10 @ 4:13PM|#

Could we change this event to "Come Hear Matt Kibbe Beat Jonah Goldberg With A Tire Iron"?

And isn't Goldberg afraid that if he gets that close to Dupont Circle one of those darn homosexuals will abduct him and "initiate" him?

|7.7.10 @ 4:15PM|#

Afraid? Isn't that his hope?

|7.7.10 @ 4:46PM|#

If a tire iron is involved I'd pay pay per view to watch a live stream of this on the internets so long as Jonah received at least one large subdermal hematoma to the head -- thats a talk I can get behind!

moosecat|7.7.10 @ 4:22PM|#

i love Jonah. :)

will video be posted?

|7.7.10 @ 4:38PM|#

Probably a stupid question, but, whats the email address? events-at-reason.com isn't a URL, and its not working in my email.

#|7.7.10 @ 4:57PM|#

events@reason.com

|7.7.10 @ 8:23PM|#

yikes. woops.

The Art-P.O.G.|7.11.10 @ 2:57PM|#

Oh, hey cool, it's the South Park guy!

|7.7.10 @ 4:51PM|#

After a eight decades of bipartisan big-government policies

Sheesh. Its not like it started when W stole the election.

BeltwayLurker|7.11.10 @ 4:07PM|#

Still whining about that to Tipper I see.

Teabagging douche|7.11.10 @ 5:34PM|#

And even that wasn't nearly as much of a cause for violent revolution as a Democrat getting elected legitimately.

Beltway Liberal-tarian|7.11.10 @ 10:02PM|#

Why can't those fucking ignorant rednecks, that make up most of country, see that everything would be much better if we were in charge?

Rudan|7.7.10 @ 6:09PM|#

"A "Where Do Libertarians Belong?" debate between Cato Institute Vice President Brink Lindsey, National Review Editor-at-Large and American Enterprise Institute Visiting Fellow Jonah Goldberg, and FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe."

So one libertarian debates with two neo-conservatives to decide where libertarians belong. This is gonna come down to a fight about homo sex isn't it?

Pedant|7.7.10 @ 8:29PM|#

Which one do you think is the libertarian?

Franklin Harris|7.7.10 @ 9:22PM|#

Gene Berkman|7.7.10 @ 9:26PM|#

Pedant gets +1 for his question. Drink!

BeltwayLurker|7.11.10 @ 4:10PM|#

It is a stage play of the wolves & sheep democracy joke.

|7.7.10 @ 6:17PM|#

Couldn't get a liberal willing to slum it? Maybe the Dems are in better shape than we are being told.

Corporate Master|7.11.10 @ 10:04PM|#

Whaddaya mean,

Brink'll be there.

Ebeneezer Scrooge|7.8.10 @ 5:08AM|#

Cato Institute's Brink Lindsey argued that "Right Is Wrong,"

Well. I'm sure the Left is far better.

In terms of electoral politics, the only thing that's going to stay in the dust bin of history is libertarians.

If you want libertarian ideas to ever have a snow ball's chance of being implemented, the first thing we must do is bring democratic elections to the swiftest possible end.

Because there will always be more poorer people than richer. The politicians will offer to give the poor people free stuff that they've taken from the richer people, which the poorer people will vote for sooner or later. To see where this story ends, just look around.

House seats at least, should only be populated by people coming from the ranks of Those Who Actually Pay the F'ing Bills. As in, people in the upper quartile tax bracket (at least). From this lucky group of Bill Payers, House seats should be assigned by something like a lottery system.

In any case our current system needs to be seriously modified. Your vote should be weighted according to how much you paid in taxes last year. If you aren't paying much, you don't get to vote yourself a bunch of free stuff.

The democratic system we have is designed to enable society-wide free loading and looting. We should not be surprised to see it going on. So long as this system remains in place, don't expect anything to change.

Coeus|7.11.10 @ 12:40PM|#

I want a combo of old skool and Starship Troopers. Property or civil service/military enlistment should be the price of admission. The one caveat is that everyone without a normal vote gets to vote for the office of Censor. That should keep the corporate cronyism manageable.

tarran|7.11.10 @ 2:48PM|#

Sigh,

The tax system is actually designed to direct money from the poor to the rich - not through explicit transfer payments but rather through crippling entrepeneurs in favor of existing players.

Thus, a Rockefeller may pay high taxes on paper, but the overwhelming effect of government policies is to pad his bank account to a far greater degree than his payments to the gov.

The poor think that they are voting to loot the rich, but in the end it is the political classes looting everyone else.

It's not democracy, per se, that is the problem, but rather the notion that a government can tax money, seize property, and jail the citizenry. Take away those powers and democracy is about as dangerous as voting for the winner of American Idol

JoshINHB|7.11.10 @ 10:07PM|#

All true,

but you missed the biggest factor which is the 3% inflation bias built into our monetary system.

That is a perpetual transfer from poor and unconnected people to the rich and politically connected ones.

Charles|7.11.10 @ 5:02PM|#

This is kind of silly. Do you really think the biggest problems in America today result from the over-involvement of the impoverished in politics? Acting like the poor (or working class or middle class) are running the show in this country is kind of absurd. Nobody cares what they think. Two examples: most people of both the middle and the lower classes opposed the bailouts, but they passed anyway. Many (most?) non-tax payers support government health insurance, but it was put into practice in such a way as to dick over most people and enrich the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries.

The real threats to liberty in America aren't the poor voting themselves goodies. It's a tiny group of corporatists and bandits at the top, playing everyone below them off each other by taking from each to give to (and blame) the other.

JoshINHB|7.11.10 @ 10:09PM|#

And funding orgs like Cato is part of the corporatist power grubbing.

Robert|7.11.10 @ 5:16PM|#

the first thing we must do is bring democratic elections to the swiftest possible end.

But how can you do that? Isn't democracy self-sustaining? That is, won't those who vote continue to vote for the vote?

James Madison|7.11.10 @ 7:41PM|#

I've got an idea. How about we let the House be elected by the people and balance that with a Senate that is to be appointed by the individual States?

|7.8.10 @ 6:51AM|#

Where Do Libertarians Belong?

Anywhere but DC. Be careful, the water there is tainted.

Barney Frank|7.8.10 @ 12:02PM|#

Many people like tainted water.

BeltwayLurker|7.11.10 @ 4:13PM|#

Taint is a powerful word.

PicassoIII|7.8.10 @ 2:39PM|#

Seriously, who is the dude in the mustache and tricorne hat.
TeaParty archetype?

Yonemoto|7.8.10 @ 3:47PM|#

Seems like it. Although honestly they shoulda put Penn Gillette all the way at the top above the freaky Ron Paul Smiley head.

|7.11.10 @ 12:35PM|#

OH wow, OK that makes a lot of sense.

Lou
www.privacy-tools.es.tc

Hugh Akston|7.11.10 @ 2:04PM|#

Does anon-bot double-dip a thread like this very often? I don't remember seeing it.

The Art-P.O.G.|7.11.10 @ 2:59PM|#

My fingers are crossed for a triple-dip.

|7.11.10 @ 1:33PM|#

Audience Q&A to follow debate.

Mister Goldberg, would you let me shoot this ~~apple~~ olive off your head?

BeltwayLurker|7.11.10 @ 3:43PM|#

The world cup halftime show was lacking.

MacGhil|7.11.10 @ 4:07PM|#

I truly love that cover. It makes me giggle every time I look at it.

Mises responds to the 24 types of libertarians:

24 types of authoritarians
http://blog.mises.org/images/2.....arians.jpg

JoshINHB|7.11.10 @ 10:15PM|#

That was awesome.

Esoteric|7.11.10 @ 11:13PM|#

You ain't kidding. That's so vastly superior -- and so much more on-target for the group it's satirizing -- than the original that it's sad.

JOhnny MAckson|7.11.10 @ 4:54PM|#

I just triple dipped my polished widgets on this thread. LOL

Jess
www.privacy-tools.es.tc

Robert|7.11.10 @ 5:11PM|#

It's a simple principle of physics where libertarian activists belong to have the greatest influence: at the center of gravity. You should be in an organiz'n that's about 50% in agreement with you, so you're the swing vote. If they're much more than 50% in agreement with you, you're wasting effort influencing too many people who already agree with you. If they're much less than 50% in agreement with you, your chance of moving the body is too low.

|7.11.10 @ 7:48PM|#

50% in agreement with you on what issue? Therein lies the problem. It's highly unlikely to be the case for every issue.

|7.12.10 @ 2:51AM|#

The color LaTeX 2e makes GucciThe color
Packages to Evaluating GucciLaTeX 2e makes it very easy to

fendi|7.13.10 @ 2:35AM|#

www

Reason.com