Podcast (and Praise!) of Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie Talking About Being Libertarian in the Age of Obama
On January 21, Reason's Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch appeared at a Modernist Society happy hour to talk about being "Libertarian in the Age of Obama."
Go here for the podcast version.
The event was written up in a couple of places, including Fr33 Agents (where pictures are posted, including the one on this post).
It was also discussed at The Huffington Post, where Andrew Sargus Klein, a "to-the-hilt liberal," suggests "Put a Libertarian on the New York Times' Op-Ed Page":
What seemed like a very tiny showing turned into a boisterous crowd by 10 or so. There were ties and jeans and argyle and rectangular frames and a terrible bartender; the mood seemed joyous, and I thought to myself, "Libertarians are hipper than liberals? I dare say."
When the talk finally got started, Gillespie had the room gaffed on his style of wit: asked about Reason's relationship with the Libertarian Party, Gillespie replied, "We bring the party"; they "hate black presidents for all the same reasons they hate white presidents"; "crony capitalism is better than crony socialism"; "The Price is Right is a libertarian TV show, because the price is always right"; etc….
It is with confidence that I nominate both men as possible candidates to replace Bill Kristol as The New York Times' new op-ed columnist. Kristol, who cold not find it in himself to utter anything of worth for an entire year, left a legacy of boilerplate drivel and a hard-to-conceal erection for Sarah Palin. Good riddance.
As for his open position, we see a parallel in the tough choices governors must make in the appointing of a senator to fill a vacant seat. There are a lot of factors to consider, and chief among the Times' situation is the notion-gasp-of balance: "How do we present a diversity of opinion and thought that reflects the whole spectrum?" Surely we're not all Dowds and Kristols.
And while most of us are not libertarians, Gillespie and Welch have the presence of mind to keep the debate fresh and lively….
