Ask Brian Doherty Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Libertarian Movement

And then donate to the magazine that lets you do stuff like that!

Brian Doherty is the historian of the libertarian movement in America. His big, honking book Radicals for Capitalism: A History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement (PublicAffairs) is the definitive volume on the subject. He has spent the last year keeping tabs on Gary Johnson, Bill Weld, and the Libertarian Party posse, and will continue to be Reason's point man on all things libertarian and Libertarian.

In case that wasn't enough for you, he's also the author of This is Burning Man (Little, Brown), Gun Control on Trial (Cato), and Ron Paul's Revolution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired (HarperCollins/Broadside). So ask him about desert pyrotechnics, guns, or Pauls!

Hit him up over at his Twitter account for an hour today starting at noon eastern, using the #askalibertarian hashtag. And then donate!

Read the whole thing below:

Comments

[Gojira]

What opportunity is there for the libertarian movement to engage in intersectionality with other movements, such as the tea party, local patriot movements (the dreaded "militias"), movement conservatives, bowel movements, etc.?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

What's the KKK? Chopped liver?

[Heroic Mulatto]

You forgot this movement.

[Hyperion]

Ok, here's my question. After 8 years of the Trumputin reign of terror and then 8 years of the Hillary/Warren reign of terror, does the libertarian moment finally arrive?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

It's happening in spite of them. Why, just the other day, I was able to hail a ride from a highly regulated transportation service.

[Hyperion]

"What does this bill do?"

Creates another cronyized union?

[RBS]

No, then it's Michelle's turn.

[Hyperion]

Damnit!

[Fist of Etiquette]

In 8 years Hillary's withered near-corpse will be no match for George P. Bush (who may be very handsome or very ugly; someone else will have to chime in on that) and his running mate, Chelsea Clinton.

[Heroic Mulatto]

That dude is only one shade less swarthy than I.

I now think this has more history behind it than I had ever imaged.

[John Titor]

What happened to your magnificent beard?

[chemjeff]

I find his answer to the immigration question interesting.

Lots of people, including me, tend to think that the welfare state should be dismantled before there is any sort of immigration reform that loosens restrictions on who might enter the country.

But I would say he's also correct that if there is restrictive immigration policy, it would encourage the growth of the welfare state since there would be less of a chance that the welfare state benefits would "unjustly" go to the "undeserving" immigrants.

So I am not sure which is the horse and which is the cart in this situation.

[Gojira]

I don't think there is an answer that's satisfactory from a libertarian standpoint.

You let all the immigrants in, and the cry isn't, "We have to dismantle the welfare system because it's overburdened."

No, the cry is, "We have to kick out these illegals and limit further immigration to save the welfare system!"

Ultimately what has to happen is, you have to convince people to give up welfare, which may make a substantial portion of them worse off than they are now. And I don't know how you convince a plurality of voters to go for that.

[Heroic Mulatto]

And I don't know how you convince a plurality of voters to go for that.

We have more than 2,000 years of panem et circenses to know you can't.

You just have to wait until SHTF and attempt to rebuild a more robust civilization from the ashes.

[Gojira]

Way to rain on everyone's parade.

This is why nobody likes colored people.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I thought it was our tendency toward drapetomania.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Martin Rose @spatialyst
@brianmdoherty is there room at the table for otherwise libertarian-y folks who favor stricter gun controls? #askalibertarian

That's going to depend entirely on what those restrictions are and how they're imposed.

For instance, it's illegal for me to discharge a firearm in city limits. As a gun owner and prickly defender of 2nd amendment rights, I don't have a problem with this restriction on guns. But if anything even smells like an infringement on "keep and bear" I'm not comfortable with it.

[Heroic Mulatto]

@brianmdoherty is there room at the table for otherwise libertarian-y folks who favor stricter gun controls?

Ah, the devil's in the "-y," no?

[Citizen X]

There's room at the table for gun controllers.

The kids' table.

When they've come to a more mature understanding of self-ownership in all its facets, including the necessary right to self-defense, then they can eat with the grownups.

[Brett L]

When will the Libertarian Moment come?

[Heroic Mulatto]

As it's a dude, anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes, if she's lucky.

[Mongo]

I'll be damned if I'm going to get on a conversation on Twitter (I have a Twitter account).

Doherty - wouldn't you rather talk comix?

[Pro Libertate]

Could it be a mistake to focus (as libertarians) so much on specific issues rather than on the general benefits and reasons supporting limited government?

Also, could Reason subsidize a Burrito Brothers delivery service to Tampa?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Could it be a mistake to focus (as libertarians) so much on specific issues rather than on the general benefits and reasons supporting limited government?

That's a good question, but the cynical side of me suggests that we (libertarians) tried this over the prior few decades, and it failed spectacularly. So now we're kind of stuck going issue-by-issue.

Because if you start talking limited government, John Oliver loses his shit and thinks you're worse than hitler.

So you have to reach into the issue grab bag and say, "So about this sentencing reform thing"

[Pro Libertate]

Tactically, I think the LP could also focus more on local and state elections, which would be more issue-driven.

[Zero Sum Game]

How do we bury the hatchet amongst ourselves and finally find a unified voice? How do we end the cat-herding? Who will be the sheepdog for our flock?

This election has taken a huge toll on libertarians. We're shell-shocked survivors in an insane world that continually drops anti-freedom bombshells on us and sends us reeling faster than we can react. We never could manage to agree on anything, but now we can't agree on anything with even more zeal than before. The signal-to-noise is dropping and the writing here is all over the board and the commentariat is just as reflective of the fractioning as it ever was.

How often do we still hear about on-message principles like the NAP and self-ownership? We take them for granted, but don't we still need to beat the drum even if we all know the melody, if not for ourselves but for the sake of the outsiders who never heard it and might come listen for a while?

[to the point]

Do you legitimately believe the arc of humanity is tending towards libertarianism?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

The arc of humanity is tending towards comfort. Recently, it's taken a hard jerk towards safety and security, but overall, I'd say comfort. Comfort and liberty do not necessarily come hand-in-hand.

[Pro Libertate]

There is no teleological trend. We've been mostly not libertarian for most of human history, sans a couple of centuries. Whether we will rediscover the benefits of less government, more freedom, in the near term is the real question. Probably not, but we should keep fighting, anyway.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Do we have to join anything to fight? Because as a libertarian, I'm not much of a joiner.

[Pro Libertate]

No. Just opt out.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Opting out still requires effort.

[Pro Libertate]

Serves you right for ever opting in in the first place.

[creech]

Why aren't there more libertarian women?

[The Fusionist]

How can I get the Kochs to give me lots of money?

[J Ortega y Gasset]

How do we save liberty from the Libertarian Party?

[Pro Libertate]

Found a somewhat less wacky party?

[bacon-magic]

What is the libertarian argument for Deep Dish pizza?