Editor's Notes

A MESSAGE FROM THE PUBLISHER

With this issue, REASON begins Volume 3. Looking back, it is obvious that REASON has come a long way since it began as an eight-page mimeographed newsletter in September 1968. Volume 2 saw the switch to an expanded size and offset printing, along with a major growth in circulation and the first paid advertising. Nonetheless, it also led to severe cost and scheduling problems, leading at last to the magazine's reorganization under the management of newly-formed Reason Enterprises in the fall of 1970. Start-up capital was obtained and a major promotional campaign is now under way. There are paid subscribers in 45 states and eight foreign countries. A number of university and think-tank libraries subscribe, and REASON articles are being assigned as readings in college classrooms from Cal State-Bakersfield to the University of Hartford.

Where does REASON go from here? First, what is REASON trying to accomplish? Very briefly, REASON is part of a growing current of radical thought that states that the individual is sovereign, that corporate liberalism has had its chance and has been revealed for the neo-feudalism it is, that real social progress consists in maximizing the options available to all (which in our present context primarily implies dismantling the vast state bureaucracy that threatens to stifle us all). REASON is exploring the ramifications of such ideas and values in light of the fact of exploding technological and social change which has become a permanent feature of our age. We are and will be exploring not only what is wrong with existing institutions but also how to get from HERE to THERE (a fully laissez-faire, adaptive, decentralized society).

A second question concerns our marketing approach: who is REASON trying to reach? Clearly, REASON is not for everyone (at this stage in history). But neither is it only for people who consciously consider themselves libertarians. REASON is addressed to all thinking people, particularly those for whom integrity, independence, and liberty are primary values. It is specifically designed as a means for spreading libertarian ideas among such people, not as part of a "movement" but rather as an expanding intellectual community. Young professionals in every field—doctors, lawyers, engineers, innovative businessmen, social scientists—these are people who seek reason, and whom REASON seeks to reach.