Since your contribution is tax deductible that means your hard-earned money won't be stolen by Big Government and given to a bunch of dusky welfare leeches with no marketable skills. Instead your cash contribution will pay the salaries of a bunch of anti-social assholes with no marketable skills unless, of course, you think being a sneering prick devoid of any quantifiable emotional response to the pain of others or the ability to feel compassion or a twinge of sympathy for people less fortunate than yourself is a marketable skill.
Which it is, but only in states that still have the death penalty.
I quote not out of hate, nor tribal dog-whistling, nor even as a testament to the eternal malleability of the English language, but rather as an illustration of the world we've lived in for 41 years, and an explicit call for you to help give us 41 more years! 41 more years! 41 more years! When Democrats are in power, we are portrayed by their allies and apologists as racist, poor-hating Republicans who smoke pot so that we can better enjoy Dungeons & Dragons in our mothers' basements. When the other team's in charge, we're terrorist-n-criminal-lovin' Bill of Rights absolutists who live in a faux-hipster fantasy-land and secretly heart Democrats. There's a reason why these attacks come in the form of name-calling and eye-rolling rather than engaging the actual arguments: The facts are rarely on their side, and the best way to pre-emptively deflect wholly deserved charges of partisan hackery is to fling poo at the only political magazine you can think of who carries water for no political tribe whatsoever.
It's telling that when the Montagues run Washington, the same Capulets who hated us yesterday become our new best friends today. Whoever is out of power–and by definition, that's always the vast majority of us–finds strange nourishment in our mix of journalism, argumentation, and hot gals kissing lobsters. But as the Obama era rumbles along, ask yourself this: Who was critiquing Bailout Economics and too-big-to-failitis not just after January 20, 2009, but from Sept. 24, 2008 (not to mention the four decades prior)? Wasn't The Economist. Wasn't the Wall Street Journal editorial page. Wasn't the GOP nominee for president.
In a world where the Less Filling and Tastes Great brands of politics are steadily losing market share, and where the only long-term growth in the political arena is in a category called "Independents" (or, if you prefer, None of the Above), Reason is the only political magazine that takes true political independence–meaning independence from politics as well as from its two shrinking legacy parties–with a fundamental (if not quite fundamentally boring) seriousness. You'll be surprised how differently the world looks when you don't define yourself by team membership.
Twenty-five bucks gets you a "Free Minds and Free Markets" bumper sticker, and the satisfying knowledge that somewhere, Jacob Weisberg is silently weeping. A hundred buys you a bumper sticker, a subscription, and either Brian Doherty's Radicals for Capitalism or Peter Bagge's Everybody Is Stupid Except For Me! Two-fifty gets you even more Reason gear, and $1,000 takes you to that wonderland that only two can share.
Antagonize your antagonists. Tweak the people who insult you while demanding your money. Re-declare your independence. And save Lobster Girl.
