3 Reasons to Support Reason's 2017 Webathon NOW!
Reason is the top source of libertarian news, for creating libertarian converts in the media, and we're your voice in debates over politics and culture.
[Here's a bonus fourth reason to support Reason: That time in 2003 when Reason Senior Editor Jacob Sullum took on Bill O'Reilly, who called him a "pinhead" and warned the award-winning journalist to "stay away from his family" because he advocated the legalization and responsible use of marijuana. Jacob's laughter in the face of such bilious rage? Priceless. Read below for more context.]
We're in the thick of our annual webathon, where we ask readers of Reason.com, viewers of Reason TV, and listeners to the Reason Podcast to support our efforts with fully tax-deductible gifts to Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes all we do.
There's all sorts of fun stuff that comes your way depending on how much you send our way. Here's a partial listing:
$50 Reason bumper sticker featuring the new Reason magazine logo.
$100 The above PLUS a Reason magazine subscription (includes print or digital; digital includes access to archives of 50 years of Reason magazine). Receive invitations to Reason events in your area.
$250 All of the above PLUS a Reason T-Shirt, featuring Reason's new logo.
$500 All of the above PLUS books by Reason authors.
$1,000 All of the above PLUS a private lunch in Washington, DC with a Reason editor and an invitation to Reason Weekend 2018 in Palm Beach, Florida.
$5,000 All of the above PLUS a Reason 1 oz. silver Bastiat coin & 2 tickets to the Reason Media Awards in Las Vegas (includes VIP seating and a reception with Nick, Matt and Katherine).
$10,000 All of the above PLUS 2 tickets to Reason Weekend for first-time attendees.
Of course, this being Reason, you can individualize and personalize your gifts to fit your needs and desires. And yes, of course you can pay in bitcoin. Go here for the swag associated with various giving levels.
Here are three (count 'em) reasons to give to Reason:
1. We're the planet's top source of news, information, and analysis from a libertarian perspective. Between the print mag (subscribe!), Reason TV's 250-plus videos a year, and Reason.com, Reason is the hub for discussions about "Free Minds and Free Markets."
Our audiences and relevance are stronger than ever. We pull over 2.5 million views a month for our videos on our Facebook page and at Reason TV's YouTube channel, for pieces on everything from how super-hacker George Hotz is working on making cars driverless for under a $1,000 per vehicle to a blistering parody of all the subsidies cities are offering Amazon:
In a typical month, Reason.com grabs about 5 million page views for stories on everything from cops stealing money from innocent musicians to coming public-pension crisis in California to how colleges are using kangaroo courts to level sentences against people who aren't students at their institution (to name just three of our most-read pieces from the past 48 hours). We have the liveliest comments section on the political web too, despite being targeted by the feds.
2. We're reaching journalists and public figures with a new way of thinking about the world and the role of government, commerce, and individuals. John Stossel credits Reason with turning him from a conventional consumer-affairs reporter who played gotcha in predictable and un-illuminating ways. Here's my gloss on the way he described it in his 2004 book, Give Me a Break:
After growing disillusioned with liberal and conservative media outlets, he turned to Reason. "It was a revelation," he writes. "Here were writers who analyzed the benefits of free markets that I witnessed as a reporter. They called themselves libertarians, and their slogan was 'Free Minds and Free Markets.' I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but what they wrote sure made sense."
John is now releasing videos with Reason (full archive here) while still spreading the word via Fox News and his syndicated Creators column (read all of them here).
And I'm happy to announce that John will be conducting a livestream Ask Me Anything with Matt Welch and me on Monday, December 4 from 1 P.M. ET to 2 P.M. Come back to Reason.com tomorrow to watch.
Something similar happened to Drew Carey, who told Time magazine in 2007, the same year he launched Reason TV:
I never thought I was a libertarian until I picked up Reason magazine and realized I agree with everything they had printed.
(Go here to watch Reason Saves Cleveland with Drew Carey: How to save the "Mistake on the Lake" and other once-great American cities, the award-winning series we did.)
3. We're your voice in public debates over politics, culture, and ideas. When Matt Welch and Katherine Mangu-Ward light up cable news shows; when I go on NPR to debate the FCC chairman who passed Net Neutrality; when Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Peter Suderman, Robby Soave, and others appear in The New York Times; and when Jacob Sullum bore the withering scorn of the late, great Bill O'Reilly without flinching (watch the classic clip), we're standing up for a radical libertarian perspective that deserves a bigger and bigger audience. Think about it: Reason has outlasted marijuana prohibition and Bill O'Reilly.
All this, we do for you!
So if you think what we're doing matters—or entertains or edifies—please make a donation today.