Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch on Cato's Libertarianism.org Podcast: "Rise of the Independents"
Click above to listen to a rollicking hour-long conversation with Matt Welch, me, and Trevor Burrus and Jason Kuznicki of Cato's Libertarianism.org website.
Here's the writeup:
Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie join Trevor Burrus and Jason Kuznicki for a freewheeling discussion about the modern political scene in America. Welch and Gillespie have noted an emerging group of people who, having been accustomed to a panoply of choice in every other aspect of their lives, are abandoning America's two-party system in droves.
Is this growing movement of independents a cause for optimism among libertarians? Are we in for a better, more libertarian era than ever before? Or should we be skeptical of this kind of optimism, given the growth of the federal government in recent years?
Together Matt and Nick are the authors of the 2011 book, "The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics can Fix What's Wrong with America."
It's a wide-ranging, fun, and often-intense conversation covering everything from the rise of Rand Paul and other libertarian-leaning Republicans, the failures of liberaltarianism, and the annoying inability of the left to understand the first thing about free-market economics. Take a listen!
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments 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 and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
Posted at 4:20...coincidence? I THINK NOT!!!!
There were more Reason staffers working x-mas morning than today...WHAT GIVES? Am I the only poor sap at work?
Another member of the Poor Saps at Work club here. Maybe the only reason (drink) they were at work is they forgot it was a holiday? "Wondered why the traffic was so light..."
My wife, who has only worked for a public university is constantly amazed at all the "holidays" I have to work. The differential in our paychecks is telling.
Every public employee I know makes more than me and still gets these holidays off. And works less hours.
Being a private practice attorney is the suck.
I'm literally uncertain you could make less money than my wife if you worked more hours. I mean, by my estimate, with holidays & PTO in lieu of salary (1700 hour year instead of 2000 for conversion purposes), she was pulling down under $15/hr before maternity leave. (On the plus side, she traded in her PTO at 14.75 hrs/week, so the university is picking up their part of our health insurance.) But the insurance is better than mine.
What does she do?
Advising. Its interesting to me how the departmental staff have been the big losers in the administrative bloat. If you're not part of the new administrative layers, you got stuck on the old payscale. At least in the experience of herself and several other peers in departments of the College of Arts & Sciences.
Jesus. I've never asked what advisers make at my university, but I'm pretty sure the only ones making 15 bucks an hour are the janitors and commissary workers.
Though, I'd be curious to compare cost of living between the two places. Maybe all things being equal it comes out to the same.
We did have classes over here today, by the way, but we're private as opposed to public.
ah, yeah, I'm a bit over that...but just a bit. Seriously.
Quit and sell a product for somebody. At least you'll have some expenses picked up and a bonus structure.
Tried that. Not enough sales experience. Ha!
Enjoy this podcast in lieu of PM Links.
Just think of it as another Sunday.
Thank you, I will have another sundae.
On a tired old street?
I hope you suffer horribly for this Starship flashback.
Hey, my sister tortured me with that fucking album when it came out by playing it over and over and over, so it's only fair that you should feel some of my pain.
Well sure, but now I have to listen to Ice Ice Baby, then Under Pressure, then Mr. Roboto to lose that particular earworm. So I feel some pain, yes.
Pic alt-text: "Welch: Oh great, The Jacket is loose? Gillespie: I'm sure one of the interns will 'find' it."
Kind of like how one "finds" Warty?
Wait - they're at a Reason location, and still wearing name tags?
"SEE! SEE! Today's weed is so powerful it destroys the short-term memories of anyone who comes near it. I pray to God they get the treatment they need before it's too late." /Patrick Kennedy
You guys wrote a book? That's totally cool!
the failures of liberaltarianism
As the single liberaltarian amongst a sea of conservatarians here I demand more info.
Sorry, guys - I have been away for a few days. I will try to post more to make up for my absence!
What's the price for crossing the bridge?
Oh God...the irony...it's so easy, but I should leave this to an expert. There so much potential here I don't want to blow it.
Speaking of conservatives...
Well denying the overwhelming body of evidence that HIV is what causes AIDS is one.
Its not the HIV, its the sudden drop in T-cells!
(Or something. I'm uncertain how this point gets argued by the other side.)
Cleaning toilets on a cruise ship?
I will try to post more to make up for my absence!
Shriek, your absence is a gift in itself, but you, you have the G.I.F.T.
As the single liberaltarian
Hence the failures of liberaltarianism.
As the single liberaltarian amongst a sea of conservatarians
So lets say you hate Christians at 100 points.
How many points do I need in hating Christians to be a true libertarian like you?
Do I have to be at 100 or more points? or is there a number below 100 that makes the cut?
One must acknowledge that religion, like government, is an oppressive form of tyranny.
"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest." - Denis Diderot
One must acknowledge that religion, like government, is an oppressive form of tyranny
Science, you really do not understand the concept of Human Liberty, do you? Or what little you do understand, you hate like all of the Leftarded.
One shudders at the horrors you must have experienced in your life to become such an evil piece of shit. No one, not even you, deserves whatever terrible things must have been done to you to so warp your "mind".
more importantly, at what point do you gain the ability to cast spells?
I think it's level nine - that's when the ShitHeel class gets to memorize level 1 Obfuscation spells.
Hard to see what the next big thing will be after Obamacare
The next big thing will be Obamacare reform...and it will substantially grow the size and scope of government and fix jack shit.
Eddard Snow
Edward Snowden's brother of Ned Stark's bastard grandson?
*spoiler alert*
Actually the unborn child of Robb Stark who warged into a rat just as his mother was being gutted. Providing an ironic juxtopostion to Bran's story of a breaker of the quest right being turned into a rat."
Cat cafe's Boston and San Francisco are the two cites.
Pretty sure Tokyo has cat cafe's...and penguin cafe's and owl cafe's and hammock cafe's and pretty much any crazy shit you can imagine cage.
What is Japan's regulatory climate? It is libertarianish?
Not even vaguely.
Never listened to the Cato podcast before, but this is a great conversation. Said the loyal Rothbardian.
Makes perfect sense to me man.
http://www.RealAnon.tk
Enjoy this podcast in lieu of PM Links.
Enjoy,em