Can Burning Man Survive Grover Norquist?

"Can Burning Man Survive Grover Norquist?," produced by Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie, was originally released on July 30, 2014. The original text is below. 

Will Burning Man—the annual week-long festival held at the end of summer in the Nevada desert—survive a terrifying challenge that goes to the very heart of its ethos of radical self-expression?

As 50,000 freaks, trippers, and visionaries start prepping for a week of fun and sun, anti-tax activist Grover Norquist has announced he will be attending this year's Burning Man.

Can a voluntary community dedicated to "radical inclusion" survive the presence of a man with Norquist's terrifying ideology?

Reason TV visited Norquist's office at Americans for Tax Reform to find out. You won't believe what happened next.

About 2 minutes.

Comments

[juris imprudent]

Progressives never miss a chance to stumble over their own stupidity - in this case whinging about Norquist attending "their" event.

Stupid dirty hippies.

[Fist of Etiquette]

They're the side of inclusion. It's not their fault that some people exclude themselves with their wrong thinking.

[Len Bias]

Exactly, Burning Man is too open-minded to allow the like of Norquist.

[Len Bias]

*likes

[Eggs Benedict Cumberbund]

Die Hippie Die

[bassjoe]

Burning Man is filled with know-nothing hipsters. I am not sure if they qualify as "progressives" as they want to keep everything the same (while, at the same time, making it cooler).

I hate hipsters.

[Almanian - just....Almanian]

yes

[sarcasmic]

Who is this guy an why should I care?

[Knarf Yenrab!]

Half the BM attendees I've known were Objectivists. Self selection, but the idea that BM is nothing but brainless hippies is wrong.

[Lord Peter Wimsey]

"Half the BM attendees I've known were Objectivists."

Here are the principles of Burning Man listed in Wikipedia: community, artwork, absurdity, decommodification, and revelry.

"Decommodification?" Tell your friends they suck at being Objectivists. If Rand were alive she'd be kicking their pansy asses all over that dessert.

[HazelMeade]

I hope being an objectivist doesn't involve mandatory avoidance of everything fun that happens to involve leftists.

[John Galt]

So, do you know a lot of people who attend bowel movements? Usually I have my BMs in private. Not because I'm inhibited, or up tight, or anything like that. If the half of the people you know who are Objectivists would like to attend my next BM they're more than welcome to watch.

[C. Anacreon]

Well, if they've decommodified the area, that means there will be no commodes available, and you will have to do your BM in public with everyone watching.

[HazelMeade]

I wouldn't say half. But libertarians (actual self-described libertarians) are overrepresented relative to the general population in the burner community.

It's probably around 15% of Burning Man is libertarian, compared to 5% of mainstream society.

[Libertarian]

Norquist could start eating babies tomorrow, but I would still have a soft spot in my heart for this quote of his:
"I'm not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."

[AlmightyJB]

That is awesome:)

[John Galt]

Great quote.

[Suthenboy]

I don't know anything about Grover Norquist, but not long ago a proggie acquaintance of mine was foaming at the mouth over how evil he is. She gets all of her info from NPR and the like.

Now I get it.

[sarcasmic]

Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all.

We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain.

Bastiat nailed it a century and a half ago.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

Outside of Smith, and even that's a push, the pre-Mises world has no greater student of human nature and economic thought than Bastiat.

We need a Bastiat Bot to insert pithy, relevant Bastiat quotations into every political discussion, preferably one that would troll HuffPo, Reddit, and Slate so we don't have to. Automation of labor FTW.

[Rhywun]

Get AnonBot on it.

[sarcasmic]

I do it several times a week here.

[Suthenboy]

She hates the guy because she has been told to even though if I were to list his positions to her without naming him she would enthusiastically agree with every one of them.

The people who told her to hate him do so for exactly the reason you note. Yes, Bastiat nailed it.

[sarcasmic]

I have tried and failed to explain that as an individualist I do not oppose collective action. I oppose coerced collective action. The response invariably is that if we all don't work together then it just isn't worth it. And by "all work together" they of course mean shooting anyone who doesn't want to obey orders.

[Robert Russ]

Roooooaaadddss.....whadabout the rooooaaddss??????

[John Galt]

Confusing society with government, like confusing science with government policy, has far more often than not resulted in a very violent and murderous outcome.

[Thomas O.]

I'm just hoping Grover knows what he's getting into. If he shows up and he sees it as Gay-Pride-meets-Thunderdome, with bare titties everywhere, I don't want him to suddenly go on a crusade to shut it down, like a few other politicians have attempted.

[Jon Lester]

That might depend on the ratio of fit to fugly.

[Zserve90]

No way dude it will never happen

http://www.TotalAnon.tk

[John Galt]

Will so dude

[RussianPrimeMinister]

OT: I just got into a mood and threw this together. What does the commentariat think? Be harsh, I'm sure I deserve it.

Evil comes in many forms among the thin blue line.
Rapists thieves and murderers, I've seen them all within my time.
Nobody seems to understand when they kill, plunder, and terrorize.
Our life, our love, our liberty is forfeit in their eyes.

We're rebels or racists or criminals, any time we stand.
And dare to challenge authority, or refuse a lawful command.
They kill your pets and steal your kids and they do it all with malice.
When nothing is sacred and no one is safe, it's time to restore the balance.

[RussianPrimeMinister]

Time to rise and face the truth that our protectors have turned against us.
There is no more time to make an excuse or wait and try to discuss.
Our family members are being imprisoned for petty and unreasonable crime.
Like all evil regimes they must be resisted, and now is the optimal time.

So stand up my neighbors, my family and friends, for the fighting be upon you soon.
They have armor and guns are are amoral souls that from guilt are completely immune.
But we have the strength of our righteous cause and the numbers to make that count.
With courage and work and nary a pause there is nothing we cannot surmount.

[RussianPrimeMinister]

So flee evil villains while you still have the chance, your hearts filled with dismay.
The people will rise and determined advance, the revolution will be on its way.
Never again will we be thieved from nor locked up or killed, according to your whim.
If ever you return as we try and rebuild, your fate will be dark and grim.

The world needs peace, which you cannot provide, and freedom which you despise.
These are principles by which you cannot abide and refuse to compromise.
So we'll take them ourselves and live happier lives, free from your corruption and graft.
When our freedom is won and new choices arise, the perfect world is what we will craft.

A world in which we can all decide for ourselves what to say and do and think.
The way the founders of our country themselves gathered and signed in ink.
Where all lives are equal, but outcomes are not, violence and theft the only crimes.
Where every man may hear opportunity knock, not once but a hundred times.

Some will succeed and some will fail, and that's just the way of life.
But you will not be there to try and curtail the success that arrises from strife.
Without you we are free to determine our fate, and that's all we have in the end.
Freedom is mankinds natural state, something you'll never comprehend.

[Gordilocks]

Nice.

[Arkansaustrian Economics]

tldr

[EDG reppin' LBC]

"...the perfect world is what we will craft."

It won't be perfection. Change this line.

Otherwise, very nice. Thanks dude.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Burning Man is an event geared around liberals and not conservatives like Grover. He may make his Muslim wife sport a full body cover-up like conservatives are inclined to do.

Grover and his missus could do a full religious B/D scene as a Burning Man "theme" while he beats her conservative style into bondage.

[Suthenboy]

"Burning Man is an event geared around liberals and not conservatives like Grover."

Nice.

TurdPolisher translated: "Radical inclusion is only for the right kinds of people."

Go drink a quart of Drano fuckstain.

[Palin's Buttplug]

When will you realize that your greasy-haired fucking conservative pals in Louisiana are no supporters of liberty?

[C. Anacreon]

A couple of friends have begged me all year to go to Burning Man with them, and they are fully aware of my libertarianism.

Unfortunately, I'd have to miss my regular chemo, so I really can't go. And to be honest, I'm almost glad to have the excuse, asI just don't have the stamina for it anymore. I think I could do Burning Man for 2-3 days, but it pretty much requires at least a week there.

It has always sounded like a lot of fun. Me ten or fifteen years ago should have gone. It was also a lot less organized back then, so likely even more enjoyable.

[Nyarlarrythotep]

You could go for 2-3 days. You'd get a taste. And I bet you could find folks also with cancer. See http://www.canceristhenewblack.....rning-man/

http://www.reddit.com/r/Burnin.....cer_sucks/

[Suthenboy]

"When will you realize that your greasy-haired fucking conservative pals in Louisiana are no supporters of liberty?"

And you are. Sure. 198% on the Libertarian purity test was it?

You are on a bender again, aren't you?

[Fluffy]

It's nice to see that you don't even attempt to disguise your racist hatred of his wife.

It's like you WANT everyone here to dig up all the past evidence of your blatant and ugly racism.

[Palin's Buttplug]

I hate all religion, you idiot. It has nothing to do with race.

We are all primates in my view.

[sarcasmic]

I hate all religion

So says a practicing statist who worships all things government.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Liar.

[sarcasmic]

Oh yeah. My bad. You worship all things government when your TEAM can take credit. Otherwise BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH! idjit

[JPyrate]

Turd Burglar.

[Fluffy]

It wouldn't have even occurred to you to mention his wife if you didn't hate her for being a Kuwaiti.

You just had to get some kicks in on the brown lady, didn't you?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Listen, dumbass. Religion is a collective form of lunacy. If Ms. Norquist subscribes to such lunacy then she is susceptible to criticism from us rationalists.

[sarcasmic]

Religion is a collective form of lunacy.

So is trust in government.

[Fluffy]

How many people here think that the reason PB mentioned Norquist's wife is because the ONE FACT he knows about her is that she's Kuwaiti, and because he hates Arabs for being brown he just HAD to say something about her?

[sarcasmic]

I've seen PB regularly accused of racism, but I haven't actually seen it. All I see when I read his posts is another progressive idiot who is willfully ignorant on just about everything.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Is Shreek racist? No. Obviously he is anti-religion.

Tony is a racist.

Know your trolls

[Atanarjuat]

Shreik is racist as fuck. He continually makes an issue of Herman Cain having relations with white women.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

I've seen PB regularly accused of racism, but I haven't actually seen it.

I have. The easiest way to expose it is to get him going on schools, charter schools, etc, and eventually some form of "those people" will come out.

[Corning]

ONE FACT he knows about her is that she's Kuwaiti, and because he hates Arabs for being brown he just HAD to say something about her

This is true, sad, and hilarious all at the same time.

[John Galt]

If Buttplug's many past racist performances are any indication of what Buttplug's intentions were in pointing out that Grover's loving wife is not Caucasian, then obviously that's the case.

[Suthenboy]

" If Ms. Norquist subscribes to such lunacy...."

Why, just a few posts up you accused her and her husband of being fanatics. Now it is 'if'?

Do you even read the things you post here?

[Sevo]

Palin's Buttplug|8.3.14 @ 6:52PM|#
..."us rationalists."

Ha, and ha!
Your familiarity with rationalism is every bit as close as your familiarity with libertarianism.
To make it clear, turd, you wouldn't recognize rationalism if you tripped and fell face down in it.
Fuck you.

[Corning]

Religion is a collective form of lunacy.

A lunacy that your heroes Obama, Carter and Hilary all subscribe to.

[pogi]

Luckily, some of us have advanced beyond flinging handfuls of shit and calling it an argument.

[sarcasmic]

Burning Man is an event geared around liberals and not conservatives like Grover.

Yeah. Because if you're not a liberal then you are a conservative. If libertarians only understood that they're really conservatives. Stupid libertarians.

[Not a Libertarian]

Grover and his missus could do a full religious B/D scene as a Burning Man "theme" while he beats her conservative style into bondage.

So in this sexual fantasy of yours...tell us ... is Mr. Norquist wearing or shirt or is he basking in all his burly glory?

[Emmerson Biggins]

Fuck off Weigel.

[bassjoe]

No, it's not geared around liberals. I have no idea what the F it's geared around besides those wanting to do a crapload of drugs for a week in one of the most inhospitable places on the planet and come back espousing how "the world should be like Burning Man". Ugh.

Many liberals I know in the Bay Area are glad when these idiots go away (not so happy when they come back).

[C. Anacreon]

Derpity-doo-dah, is Derpetologist around? I haven't seen him posting for awhile.

I found a passage on a social media discussion I thought he would love, in a discussion of how Facebook is leading to a great deal of anxiety for some individuals over 'keeping up with the Joneses', of all topics:

"I have an appreciation for the variety of expressions across cultures in which humanity's encounter with the numinous has been expressed. However, in our current secular and materialistic society, coupled with loud advocates such as Richard Dawkins, without some appreciation that we are not merely things inhabiting an cold universe, there is little sense of the deeper meaning of life, nor sense of appreciation that what we do has concrete consequences for the greater world. Our coming climate disaster, human caused, is but one example of such consequences."

[Suthenboy]

That makes no sense whatsoever.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

It makes less sense than leaving Brandon League in the game after 3 consecutive walks. Fucking Doyers!!!!

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

I don't understand how they can win 6 in a row and then let the Cubs bitch-slap them around all weekend.

They've played with more poise and energy than home team. Apparently the offense doesn't give a shit if Kershaw or Greinke isn't pitching.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I dunno. Football is starting.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Meh, football is not something I've ever been passionate about. Too many commercials, time outs, and uneventful play.

I dislike how it gets such insane amounts of coverage on ESPN even during the summertime when it should be about baseball.

[Ted S.]

Football started up even before the end of the World Cup, what with the first round of Champions League qualifying.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

You're lucky I'm drunk, Ted S. Otherwise I would respond with something snarky and cool and hilarious.

[C. Anacreon]

The Dodgers got beat by Edwin Jackson?
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
The worst pitcher in all of baseball. If he didn't have a $13 million salary he'd be long gone.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"I'm all for mushy love and rewarding relationships. I'm quite a romantic, in fact. But my recipe for self-fulfilment doesn't feature a mystical "soul mate", a prince or even someone bearing the glitzier title of "The One". Like [actress Cameron] Diaz, I too would rather retain my single status with a few rewarding lovers to fulfil different needs at different times of my life. Relationships can be a nice addition to contentment but they no longer have to be the main ingredient....

"I'm obviously not suggesting that we treat life like one big Club 18-30's holiday with a new lover for every change of bed linen. Life would be anarchical, board meetings would be in danger of turning into orgies and women would have the Child Maintenance Association saved to speed dial. We will continue to fall in love and to believe the feeling will last forever. But it is time to modernise the rules and expectations. That means casting away the fairytale and facing up to the fact that a life partner ? should we choose to have one ? fulfils only one corner of our emotional, romantic and sexual needs. The belief that we can find one person to meet all of them is one which is very likely to be considered radical in the future."

http://www.newstatesman.com/li.....k-monogamy

[Carl ?s his ? for ?s]

If you think life-long commitment is still needed to start a family, a replacement for that has been found too. Earlier this month it was reported that the number of single women seeking artificial insemination with a sperm donor has doubled in five years. This is more significant if you consider that as late as the 1950s single motherhood was deplored so much that they could be locked away in a mental asylum.

Oh, give me a break.

Anyway, I don't wholly agree with it, but I enjoyed this comment nonetheless:

Roger Daily ? 3 months ago

Stop trying to make a virtue of narcissism, laziness, child neglect and a short attention span.

I would say instead: stop acting like your lifestyle choices are especially enlightened and sophisticated. Drop the pretense and just live in a way that makes you happy.

[Christophe]

I'm a live and let live person, and she can do whatever she wants with her own life.

I just find the "obviously if the vast majority of people behave in a way that I wouldn't personally enjoy, then they're living wrong" attitude to be the height of arrogance.

[lap83]

That reminds me of that Jimmy Carr bit with the fuck buddies in the audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2ZdIxjiKqA

"We don't need a relationship. It's so old fashioned! I should be able to sleep with whoever I want to sleep with...and so should you! As long as it's just me"

[lap83]

"...when I say"

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Singing parrot

(start 50 seconds in)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvT0KtQcoZU

[Gordilocks]

Are they trying to get more traction out of this video by posting it twice? Slow Sunday?

I've been to Burning Man 6 times, and it gets better every year. Grover will have great fun, as long as he understands that he will most likely become the subject of performance art, or may see his face lampooned in some fashion.

Burner political demographics aren't exactly like Reality Camp, as there are not very many Burners who will openly admit to being members or supporters of Team Red; that said, I think Libertarians/Anarchists/Political Atheists are slightly better represented at B Man.

Anecdotally, most people I've had political discussions with On Playa are quite open to many aspects of Libertarianism, but when the rubber hits the road at election time, many of these same folks end up supporting Team Blue, if they vote at all. That said, voter disenfranchisement seems to be the dominant narrative, rather than support for either version of The War Party.

At the end of the day, it's a an art party that is a feast for the senses, and even a political junkie like me has to leave the hobby horse alone and just enjoy the fun.

I highly recommend that anyone interested in participating, do so.

[HazelMeade]

Yes, just avoid going anywhere near the vegans or the alternative energy zone.
Not if you don't want to stumble into a indoctrination session where they all watch a "documentary" about the evils of Monsanto together.

[Almanian - just....Almanian]

Helllllloooooooooooo? Who is it??

[Zserve90]

That dude jsut looks corrupt as the day is long.

http://www.TotalAnon.tk

[PapayaSF]

OT: Ebola terror at Gatwick as passenger collapses and dies getting off Sierra Leone flight

[Rich]

At around 11pm on Sunday, the Department of Health said that tests for the deadly Ebola virus on the woman who died at Gatwick had proved negative.

Whew. Probably just Spanish Flu.

[PapayaSF]

Earth Abides

[Cdr Lytton]

Or part of a plot by faceless alien trying to impersonate kidnapped humans.

[PapayaSF]

Related: Eating bush flesh is one of main ways Ebola is transmitted to humans and 7,500 tonnes of illegal meat enters the UK every year.

[Rich]

Permit me: BOOOOOOOOSSH!!

[Redmanfms]

This is the same way that HIV was introduced to humans IIRC.

[Steve G]

Note to self: stop eating bush...flesh

[Sevo]

"Boy lost in NYC calls it 'greatest day of my life'"
http://www.sfgate.com/news/art.....665538.php

NYPD doesn't kill him and the mother isn't tossed in jail. Yet.

[Gordilocks]

The boy told the Daily News, "This was the greatest day of my life because this was the first day I was at the police station!"

He's expecting more?

[Sevo]

Now you can take the biker 'tude on the water!

"From prototype to pedal-ready: Water bike launches"
http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/20.....25574101=0

You can't run red-lights, but you can run down swimmers!

[Corning]

That looks fun.

...

Probably costs to much.

[PapayaSF]

Fun, as long as there are no ships nearby, and the weather is good. And it is about $6000.

[Sevo]

Oaktown is far along the road to Detriot-dom, and the gov't makes SF's look competent.
Both ML teams are threatening to leave, and part of the reason is the 'disrespect' shown them because of the old stadium. So both the As and the Raiders are demanding up-grades (at least) or a new sandbox!
http://www.sfgate.com/athletic.....hc-bayarea

Lots of hemming and hawing about how it can, sorta, maybe, well, most if it, perhaps can be privately funded, but no one is claiming it will be. And then we get the money quote (forgive me):

"Quan, however, said she would not elaborate on the funding.
"This is not going to be negotiated in public," she said."
Of course not! Who negotiates about taxpayer money in public, for pete's sake?!

[PapayaSF]

Quan is also still embroiled in her car accident controversy.

[Sevo]

Jeeze, did Junior's win wear all you guys out?

[Gordilocks]

Dunno about the Northern Hemisphere, but where I'm at, I'm just bloody busy.

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