Ask Reason's Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch Anything on Reddit, Right the Hell Now!

Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch will be live at Reddit in 15 minutes, answering all your burning questions in a AMA for the next couple of hours. Go here to submit questions now. 

Comments

[Riven]

Yeah, ’cause I’m totally going to visit Reddit on a work computer.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Buy a dataplan for your smartphone, cheapskate.

[Cdr Lytton]

She might be one of the eight people without a smartphone. Why are you othering the unicorn?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Someone has to.

[Counterfly]

A girl without a smart phone? Come on man. That’s like literally the only thing more rare than a unicorn.

[Riven]

I actually have a pretty nice dataplan because I’ve unscrupulously kept my “Verizon dealer” plan, despite not having that job for three years.

Even so–I can’t be seen playing on my cellphone at work. At least it looks like I could be doing something productive.

[SugarFree]

The Jacket first manifested at the dawn of the world, before the slime that would eventually call itself “man” crawled from the primordial ooze of lightning-ravaged amino acids. Manipulation the pathetic DNA of that slime allowed The Jacket to intuit the entelechy of Man’s form and create the Gillespie I as its host. The Jacket then coded for the beast known as Cow, so that it might make it itself out of its hide in the distant future and then fling itself back in time to that moment in order to bring about the cow’s creation. The Jacket brooded for millions years–waiting for the next host to arise.

II was the first fish that crawled from the sea, gulping the thin air and pulling itself along with thick fins that could barely work a zipper.

III was a vegetarian velociraptor. We don’t talk about him much. The Jacket waited, sleeping through the fall of the thunder-lizards and into the great dark night of meteor winter.

IV was a gracile australopithecus afarensis, and the first of his line to be known as “Nick.”

[SugarFree]

V was a brutish Homo heidelbergensis. He was the first Gillespie that blogged, although his circulation and pageview numbers were very, very, very low. He was savaged by a giant wolf beyond the ability of The Jacket to save his mortal form. Absorbed into the lining, he lives on in Gillespie X’s furrowed brow.

VI was the man known to history as Cato. The fate of his hands are the reason the The Jacket is missing its matching gloves to this very day.

VII reigned over Italy as The Borgia Jacket, corrupting the spirit of man and spreading chaos.

VIII wore The Jacket for a very short time. He fought the symbiotic process and was left vulnerable to attack by prohibitionists. The Jacket remembers the fall of the barrel ax. The Jacket remembers the fat lady with the ax all too well.

IX began the cycle by skinning and curing the hide of The Cow Of Destiny. Gorged on the mystical flesh of The Cow, he flung The Jacket back into time, sacrificing his own life to do so. The paradox complete, The Jacket reappeared on his broken form microseconds after his death. It lay there, forgotten by history, until a cold and shivering boy found it. Covered in the blood of his parents, he donned The Jacket merely to stay warm. But The Jacket had other plans.

[WTF]

I can’t wait to see what happens when The Jacket meets the Doomcock of Doom.

[Clich? Bandit]

singularity

[Episiarch]

What were the other plans?!? Come on, man!

[Troy muy grande boner]

Absorbed into the lining, he lives on in Gillespie X’s furrowed brow.

Genious!

[alecbeckson]

I started with my online business I earn $38 every 45 minutes. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it out.
For information check this site. ????? http://www.jobsfish.com

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I don’t have a redditbook account or whatever.

Nick and Matt: Your magazine has the momentum of a runaway frieght train. Why are you so popular?

[Hyperion]

Nick and Matt are the ones posting those spams like the one above here. That’s why they don’t get shut down.

[antisocial-ist]

Ooh, a tough question but a fair one. Playa, there’s no single answer. Some voters respond to my integrity, others are more impressed with my incorruptibility. Still others buy my determination to lower taxes. And the bureaucrats in the state capital can put that in their pipes and smoke it!

[Hyperion]

So, how’s come we haven’t been mob attacked by the SJWs after that article that Robby Soave wrote here and all of the follow up comments?

Maybe we can go over to Reddit and get them swarming.

[WTF]

Odd how that story seems to have evaporated once the details started to be questioned.

[antisocial-ist]

They don’t want none.

[Hyperion]

Well, they got some coming anyway.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Has the Jacket ever taken the highway to the Danger Zone?

[Fist of Etiquette]

A new thread? Uh, why didn’t you pull the comments from the previous one? There were some very poignant questions asked there.

[Counterfly]

Reason’s anti-poignancy policy is clearly stated and very well known.

It’s why I’m here in the first place.

[Andrew S.]

I see Mark Ames has shown up with a question already:

How do you reconcile working with a group that both supported the Apartheid Regime in South Africa and denied the Holocaust?

[WTF]

Oh, and, have you stopped beating your wife?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Has there ever been a Mark Ames AMA? Because I want to ask him why he isn’t currently imprisoned for having sex and with an underaged Russian girl, impregnating her, and then subjecting her to psychological abuse that included threats of murder in order to force her to abort the child?

[jesse.in.mb]

I never get this. If you aren’t working with someone who held TERRIBLE beliefs in the ’60s and ’70s you’re probably still in your 20s. It transcends party lines.

[Paul.]

Hmm, some of those questions looked serious. I’m guessing the H&R crowd isn’t there.

[Warty]

In terms of unredeeming, toxic influences on culture and society – where would you place Marketing?

DORP HORP BORP

[Kaptious Kristen]

Somewhere between Progressivism and artisanal mayonnaise.

(Google doesn’t recognize “artisanal” as a real word)

[JW]

where would you place Marketing?

Out front, on top of the pikes.

[Warty]

[?]suaveitguy 1 point 5 minutes ago
http://psychcentral.com/blog/a…..y-buy-buy/
permalinkparent

ME HAVE SCIENCE BEHIND BELIEF! ME KNOW IT GOOD SCIENCE BECAUSE IT CALL ITSELF SCIENCE!

[Los Doyers]

How do you guys feel about creepshots? Does the thought of the DC subway at rush hour excite your human photo safari tendencies?

[Johnny Bravo]

Is that you Desmond Morris?

[jesse.in.mb]

Do you have some sort of newsletter to which I could subscribe?

[Warty]

?]Mullikrk 1 point just now
Hi nick and Matt,
First time on Reddit, I enjoy your magazine.
Right now, people in Northern Europe that have comparatively higher rates of taxation also live longer, are happier, are more healthy , and have cradle -to-grave health insurance, lavish maternity and paternity leave policies, and mandated 6 week vacation packages. If socialism and the Welfare state are such terrible things how come the people that live under the most socialistic economic systems are the happiest and most educated. And, in contrast, how come societies with weak central governments that come closest to the libertarian ideal are ones that are most likely to be violent , Hobbesian shitholes?

Sure you enjoy the magazine.

[jesse.in.mb]

Counterpoint: Switzerland?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Counterpoint: He’s full of shit. It’s a well-known fact that Scandinavian countries have relatively high rates of suicide and a extremely high rates of depression that are closer to North African countries and the Middle East than they are to North American or Western European countries.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Having to read Stieg Larsson will do that to you.

[Hyperion]

Also, demographics. Proggies have the same understanding of demographics as they do economics. IOW, none.

[jesse.in.mb]

It’s not their fault that they’re SAD.

[Warty]

[?]SkyLukewalker 1 point 7 minutes ago
My perception of Libertarians is that they are almost exclusively middle to upper middle class white guys who have had very little adversity in their lives. Can you tell me if this perception is incorrect or not and why?
If your goal is to build a legitimate political movement, how can you convince disadvantaged minorities to support you?
Do you believe that money is free speech? If yes, why is bribery illegal?
If you were allowed to make one single reform to American politics, what would it be?
permalink

ME ARGUOO IN GOOD FAITH

[Episiarch]

They had to know what they were getting into. Nick is actually good at both answering moron questions properly and cogently while being slightly condescending for them being so stupid. I just hope he can do that through a keyboard as opposed to in person.

[Los Doyers]

Something something your mom?

[John Galt]

This is like when I was a kid and used to listen to ball games on the shortwave radio.

[RBS]

Do you believe that money is free speech? If yes, why is bribery illegal?

Bananas are fruits, so why don’t you eat broccoli?

[John Galt]

Didn’t Reddit pull some anti-liberty, censorship crap a while ago or was it some other social networking service?

[Kaptious Kristen]

If I wanted to make braised short ribs, but I forgot the tomato paste, can I use tomato sauce as a substitute? Because it’s, like, cold and rainy out there and my toof hurts.

[John Galt]

You can but it’ll taste different.

[Warty]

Of course you can. It’ll cook down anyway.

[John Galt]

Paste and cooked down sauce taste different to me. But what do I know.

[Warty]

It’ll be different, but still good. It’s not going to make a difference anyway. In cooking, as in all things, it’s not worth it to major in the minors.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I have a sauce from my own garden tomaters, so it should be better than Prego or Hunts.

[Warty]

My favorite thing to do with roasted meats is to roast the meat in a big Dutch oven with some onions, garlic, and maybe carrots. After the meat’s done, take it out of the dish, add some broth to the juice that’s in the dish, and cook it down until it’s thick, mashing the veggies up as you go. When almost all the water’s cooked out, spoon out the juice and use it as a sauce.

[John Galt]

Have you tried clove oil on your tooth?

[Kaptious Kristen]

Have not – sounds like something I would need to go out into the cold & rain for 🙂

I actually suddenly have a crapload of friends selling essential oils of all kinds – I’ll see if I can get one of them to send me some. For now, it’s Advil. Wish I had some narcotics.

[John Galt]

You have my sympathy. Tooth pain stinks.

[JW]

IT’S NOT SAFE.

[John Galt]

Rain is quite safe. She just doesn’t feel like being in it at the moment.

[JW]

Oh, don’t worry. I’m not going into that cavity. That nerve’s already dying. A live, freshly-cut nerve is infinitely more sensitive. So I’ll just drill into a healthy tooth until I reach the pulp. That is unless, of course, you can tell me that it’s safe.

[John Galt]

Home dentist?

[JW]

Thus far I find you rather detestable, may I say that without hurting your feelings?

[John Galt]

I can assure you that I am quite detestable, and running a little thin on feelings.

[JW]

pssst: Marathon Man.

The clove oil should have been the tip off.

[Clich? Bandit]

careful

Sauce has salt, pepper, herbs, etc. Anything that is pre-salted will obviosuly get saltier as you reduce it. This is why I make my own stock. It is impossible to buy non-salted beef stock.

So understand you will get more concentration of the things in the sauce.

I say take some tomatoes (if you have them) and roast/boil and peel, add little olive oil, some beef stock if you have it, a quick pulse or two in the blender and add that. It will be acidic and help tenderize as well as add some nice chunky body. Salt when the braise is almost done to taste.

[Warty]

[?]GoldFisherman 1 point 10 minutes ago
How do you justify your belief that privatization of education is the solution? I am a public school teacher and the demonization of public unions is absurd.
Why doesn’t a “think-tank” such as yours address parent and student accountability in education, rather than blame the teachers?
permalink

Hey! Teacher! You work for an evil system and your job is to mentally abuse children! Leave them kids alone!

[Warty]

[?]awoogatron4000 1 point 2 minutes ago
What checks would a truly Libertarian nation have on the super rich?
permalink

I love the moronic first principles these morons are starting from. How do you make things fair without violently murdering people I don’t like?

[Warty]

[?]awoogatron4000 1 point 5 minutes ago
The average person does far better in Scandinavian economies than in the much more free market US system so why would more free market be good for me?
permalink

[John Galt]

Now I remember why I stay away from Reddit. It’s a ship of fools.

[JEP]

Most of the ones I’ve read so far have been pretty decent.

Warty always seems to find the worst.

[John Galt]

Still trying to remember why I decided to stay away from Reddit. There was a reason.

[Warty]

The subreddit where girls get naked is pretty good. Everything else is terrible.

[John Galt]

Subreddit. Is that like PornTube?

[JEP]

I’ve seriously thought about starting to write essays from several political points of view and see how much trouble I could stir up.

Reddit would be the perfect place to do it.

[Idle Hands]

I enjoy the sports subs myself, also what warty said.

[Warty]

[?]PlaysForDays 2 points 2 minutes ago
How do you respond to the environment-based criticism of libertarianism? For example, hydraulic fracturing of oil has done great things to a number of local economies and decreased our dependence on foreign oil, but it’s difficult to deny that there have been some distinctly harmful effects on nature, both locally and globally. Dan Carlin brought up the frightening idea that making sure the water is clean in these areas would only become relevant when companies can make roughly as much money from selling water as selling oil. And that scares me.
I appreciate much of libertarian philosophy and goals (protecting individual liberties, fighting the police state – both domestically and globally, the war on drugs, the disgusting underbelly of bureaucracy, etc) but I can’t wrap my head around the idea that deregulating corporations would do anything positive for the environment.
permalink

Oh christ, a Dan Carlin listener. I enjoy his history podcasts, but his political podcasts make clear that he’s a dangerous left-wing nut.

[Heroic Mulatto]

[?]henrygeorge1776 1 point 14 minutes ago

I’m a Geolibertarian. I believe government should only interfere in markets to use taxes to limit externalities and assign property rights. Are you a royal libertarian, believing in the land monopoly established by government granted land and resource titles? If not, do you think we should use a combination of pollution (carbon mainly), resource, and inherent land value (not estate) taxation to decrease market inefficiencies such as over consumption of resources?

Are you fucking kidding me, Uncle Pennybags?

[Warty]

[?]Chungles 1 point just now
Is your libertarianism a result of selfishness or privilege? And what will make you grow out of it sooner – learning empathy or stopping being white?
permalink

Mmmmmm. *lights cigarette.* Mmm. Perfect.

[Idle Hands]

hahahaha.

[jesse.in.mb]

I hope you put the spawn to sleep before you rubbed one out over that.

[Warty]

Never. She has to grow up sooner or later.

[John Galt]

Chungles, as far as trolling goes that was amateur at best.

[Warty]

[?]MolemanusRex -1 points 11 minutes ago
The cops violated Ernesto Miranda’s rights when they arrested him for rape. Are rape laws the problem there? Is it “totally legitimate” to point out that cops wouldn’t have violated Miranda’s rights if rape had been legal?
permalinkparent

[Warty]

[?]Indica 1 point a minute ago
How do libertarian economic policies benefit the working class?
permalink

[John Titor]

“Who’s your favorite H&R commenter?”

“Shout-out to Gilmore, for the Indies fashion review.”

*Sugarfree rips up program and storms out of awards ceremony*

[John Galt]

What happened to Balko? He just disappeared.

[GILMORE]

(wipes tears from eyes)

“Wow! I mean, wow. Just… whooo.’

I guess first, i should thank my Mom, and Jesus…

…but then I think = to be fair, they didn’t really help *at all*! Not even a little. so… fuck that!

No, really, I guess who I owe the real thanks to are *all you other commenters*…

…because, without each and every one of you being distinctly Not As Good as me? I’d never have stood out in the way that i have.

Your general shittyness has really helped make me what I am, and I will be forever grateful to all of you for just sucking the way you do. Your loss is my gain. In your face, suckers!! IM GOING TO DISNEYLAND!”

[Warty]

[?]ramming_precision 1 point 4 minutes ago
What are your feelings on the topics of marijuana, illegal immigration, ass sex and prostitution? Additionally its been suggested that the website has gone downhill since Lucy Steigerwald was abruptly let go/fired/quit what are your feelings on this issue?
permalink

DON’T TALK ABOUT LUCY

[Warty]

[?]SammyD1st 1 point 2 minutes ago
Would you rather have the government force you to fight one horse-sized duck, or have the government force you to fight 100 duck-sized horses?
permalink

Finally, a sensible question.

[Idle Hands]

[?]Nick_GillespieNICK GILLESPIE[S] 1 point 9 minutes ago
I’m second to nobody in my unironic love of William Shatner, who hit full stride in TJ Hooker, the most subtle critique of the police state that I’ve yet to encounter. But Star Trek is like totally commie central as far as I’m concerned.
We recently called Star Trek TOS the most anti-libertarian show EVER. For our reasons, go here.

exit questioon has anyone ever seen Epi and Gillespie in the same place?

[Heroic Mulatto]

[?]2diceMisplaced 1 point 11 minutes ago

And DS9? It simultaneously demonized free trade while pointing out the value of enforcement discretion.

Quark was the hero, you dummy.

[Idle Hands]

[?]LeftyLewis 1 point just now
libertarian free will appears to be an entirely broken and unscientific concept. how do you reconcile this with your political views?

lol.

[Warty]

I’ve talked about this before. I don’t believe in free will, and it seems quite likely to me that the universe is entirely deterministic. So what? It appears to us that we have free will, so we should act as if we do. And if we don’t, we were going to do what we just did anyway, so we shouldn’t worry about it. …Which we were going to do in any case. Because of the First Cause and everything.

[Idle Hands]

Makes sense but I have no idea what Lefty Lewis is babbling about, I don’t think it has anything to do with the concepts your describing.

[Warty]

I think it’s something about something something marketing something something Citizens United.

[John Galt]

The illusion of free will is the impetus that causes us to believe everything is in motion when in reality every thing that can and can not be is already done?

[Heroic Mulatto]

How dumb do you have to be to confuse the use of “libertarian” in the phrase “libertarian free will” with “libertarian” as a political philosophy. Here’s a video by a libertarian explaining why he thinks libertarian free will doesn’t exist.

LeftyLewis’s Mind. Blown.

[John Galt]

Free Willy.

[Warty]

[?]RudeTurnip 2 points 8 minutes ago
I personally think this is one of the few areas when a government should step in: when the ideologies of a culture, such as capitalism, are not compatible with the realities of the world, such as pollution and cross-contamination which violates the rights of others.
permalinkparent

One of the few areas in which the government should step in is to ruthlessly eradicate free exchange? Do I have that right?

[JW]

I find it amusing that this same person would sneer at anyone suggesting that evolution is a myth, but also believes that the only way man can live is in Top Men camps.

[John Galt]

George Carlin voiced some very sensible opinions about such faulty and self-important opinions such as those of Turnip’s.

[Dr. Fronkensteen]

Coase Theorem deals with this.

[Warty]

[?]justinstigator 0 points 14 minutes ago
What made you embrace an ideology that is so logically inconsistent, not to mention undesirable?
Philosophically, how do you reconcile support for property rights with the non-aggression principle?
Knowing that government is responsible for many of the most successful economic development projects in history, such as the interstate highway system, the railroads, GPS and the internet, common carriers, etc., how do you propose society take on those big, necessary, unprofitable tasks that only pay off in the long-term?
Lastly, why do you want to so greatly diminish the individuals ability to pursue the laws that they want? Why do you support using government force to implement your vision of society, but condemn coercion so greatly when it comes to laws you disagree with?
permalink

[John Galt]

“Reddit-Reddit-Reddit”
( The sound pinhead frogs make. )

[PaulW]

I’m pretty sure that one was tony with his tyrants of liberty argument.