How Reason Helps You Stay Sane During Political Brainworms Season
Turns out subjecting presidential aspirants to libertarian-flavored scrutiny is good for journalism! And sanity.
Money is easily countable and comprehensible, sure, but some of the better byproducts of Reason's annual Webathon—in which we ask regular consumers of our editorial content to make an end-o'-year, tax-deductible donation to keep us rockin' through 2024 and beyond—are the comments submitted alongside the gifts. Like this one:
You guys are the best. Thank you for the work you do for liberty and for being a model of intellectual consistency in a sea of tribalist mental gymnastics.
Emphasis added, because American politics right now is moving into a land of both shadow and substance otherwise known as … (involuntary shuddering) … the 2024 presidential campaign. (Long scream.) Reason is an essential part of your toolkit in surviving the next 12 months with your wits intact.
OH NO LET'S NOT GO CRAZY! DONATE TO REASON TODAY!
Aspiring to a model of intellectual consistency requires subjecting politicians and parties to critiques rooted in both fact and philosophy. Part of avoiding tribalist mental gymnastics is declining to join a tribe. Libertarianism is inherently skeptical of the accumulation and exercise of state power, and so Reason submits every politician and government official, including the libertarian-adjacent, to healthy levels of skepticism, including criticism when appropriate.
Previous presidential cycles have generated some valuable such exercises with major-party candidates: 2020's "The Case Against Biden," "The Case Against Trump," and "Kamala Harris Is a Cop Who Wants To Be President"; 2016's "Bernie's Bad Ideas," "Trump vs. the Constitution," and "Hail to the Censor!"; 2012's "Consultant in Chief," and "The Ron Paul Moment," 2008's "Be Afraid of President McCain," and "The Cult of the Presidency," and on and on. Want more articles like that?
The approach of keeping our heads while others lose theirs has served us well in the 12 months since our last Webathon. Some examples:
- "Kamala Harris Is a Flop," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
- "Biden Administration Illegally Pressured Social Media Platforms, 5th Circuit Affirms," by Jacob Sullum
- "President Trump Freed Drug Offenders. Candidate Trump Wants To Kill Them." By Jacob Sullum
- "Nikki Haley's Crazy Plan to Require Verification on Social Media," by Robby Soave
- "Ron DeSantis Confirms (Again) That His Attack on Disney Was Political Retribution," by Eric Boehm
- "Vivek Ramaswamy Is Wrong About the National Debt," by Nick Gillespie
- "Did California Gov. Gavin Newsom's Luck Finally Run Out?" By Steven Greenhut
- "Why Are So Many Libertarians Suddenly Fond of RFK Jr.?" By Liz Wolfe
- "Mitt Romney, Like So Many NeverTrumpers, Was Hobbled by His Own Grubby Political Ambitions," by Matt Welch
- "Elizabeth Warren Wants the Government To Investigate America's 'Sandwich Shop Monopoly,'," by Christian Britschgi
This coming presidential season, with its two ancient and profoundly unpopular major-party front-runners, plus all kinds of wild cards in the third party/independent lane, is guaranteed to go cuckoo-bananas long before the Democratic Party holds its national convention in, uh, Chicago. You need a journalistic outlet to help keep you sane, to scrutinize through a libertarian lens, and maybe even to laugh a little at the horror show. You need Reason! And we need you.
