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Wishing all of you a good and #blessed Sunday (now wish each other a good Sunday!), and having dispensed with that, please note that I'm waving a basket under your nose because we are still smack dab in our 2018 webathon, in which we invite readers and viewers and listeners to help make this seemingly spontaneous order possible through your tax-deductible donations. For those 600+ who have donated so far, thank you! And for those of you still biding your time, checking out this website on the Lord's day, I've got button for you to click:
Today I want to talk about what a pleasure it is to go on TV in front of 1.6 million viewers and talk about the importance of libertarianism and the awfulness of warrantless surveillance while pointing an accusatory nose at a former CIA and NSA director. Because it's fun!
A key part of our mission here is to go where people are talking about news and public policy, and inject some sorely needed libertarianism into the mix. For instance, Elizabeth Nolan Brown going on Fox New Channel to try and explain to Laura Ingraham why the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) is terrible even for the victims it aims to protect. Or Shikha Dalmia talking to actual Australians about how she's still not a gun-grabber even after her family was caught up in a school shooting:
Or C.J. Ciaramella going on C-SPAN to talk about legalizing marijuana—on 4/20, no less!
There's a common misconception about making these kinds of TV appearances, and what your donations may have to do with them. Goes a little something like this:
Reason pays for the slot on MSNBC?
— Adam Adamou (@Grazen) November 29, 2018
No, Reason doesn't pay for MSNBC slots. More to the point, MSNBC (as well as Fox, CNN, and the other cable nets) don't pay for us to go on. That's in no small part because we like to be able to cross 6th Avenue—to appear wherever we're asked, without any contractual restrictions. Next time you watch a cable news segment (preferably our great pal Kennedy on Fox Business Network, for instance this coming Thursday!), notice how often a panelist is referred to as a "contributor." That's TVese for "they're getting paid, and you won't see them on another network." Your donations, therefore, help us remain free agents, able to spread these libertarian viewpoints across the widest possible distribution.